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VOL.42 NO.7 • Sacramento Country Day School • 2636 Latham Drive, Sacramento • April 23, 2019
PAINTING IN THE RAIN Senior Bella Mathisen puts the finishing touches on her mural, “One Line,” in the rain on April 15. PHOTO BY JACQUELINE CHAO
Second school mural finished since removal of three in 2017 location — from the side of Room 9 to the wall next to the weight room. “We’re just not ready to put a mural in that space,” Thomsen said. “We like the clean look of the courtyard.” When Thomsen emailed Cunningham to let all the students know which proposals had been approved, according to Naylor, Thomsen didn’t give many reasons why hers and her classth e d e mates’ were rejected. sig “He didn’t give n us a straight answer,” Naylor said. “During the meeting, he told us, ‘I’ll think about it. It seems like a lot of you have strong proposals.’ It seemed like he was on our side, and Mr. Wells too, so we had hope.” Van Vleck agreed, adding that all the artists were careful with their designs and proposed locations. “A lot of us tried to pick places that weren’t super visible or big and themes that weren’t at all controversial; pretty much all were somehow about education,” Van Vleck said.
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efore the 2017-18 school year, three murals — located on the large wall next to the entrance to the gym, the wall next to the weight room and the wall on the back side of the gym — were painted over. The decision was made by head of school Lee Thomsen, who said in the Octagon that the murals were “weatherworn” and “did not show the school in the best light” (“Community has mixed reactions to school’s painting over 21-year-old mural,” Aug. 28, 2017). But just over a year ago, Lea Gorny, ’18, responded by designing a mural depicting two women of color, moons and galaxies for the gym wall behind the physical education office. After getting approval from Thomsen, Gorny and other students spent spring break painting. That mural sparked many AP Art Studio students to start working on proposals for this year. In February, Thomsen, art teacher Andy Cunningham, head of high school Brooke Wells and seniors Michaela Chen, Bella Mathisen, Grace Naify, Sophie Naylor, Mohini Rye and Tori Van Vleck met to discuss possible murals for this year. In that meeting, according to Mathisen, the students received
“a lot of positive feedback” from Thomsen regarding painting new murals around campus. Mathisen, who had been working on her design since the summer, gave a full presentation in the February meeting, during which she even showcased photoshopped images of her mural on the wall. The other students also explained their ideas and showed Thomsen sketches of their proposals. “(Thomsen) seemed isen, pretty receptive, alh t a though a little M a overwhelmed l with how much was given at one time,” Rye said. “But it seemed like a productive meeting and that it was going someplace.” Around a month later, on March 12, Thomsen met with about a dozen administrators to decide which murals to approve. “I take advice and feedback from them, but ultimately, I’m responsible (for decision making),” Thomsen said. Mathisen, Naylor, Rye and Van Vleck each submitted one proposal. Thomsen approved only Mathisen’s idea, though he changed the mural’s
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BY ALLISON ZHANG
MURALS page 3 >>
One of four mural proposals approved by administration BY ALLISON ZHANG Of four mural proposals given to head of school Lee Thomsen on March 4 by AP Studio Art students, only senior Bella Mathisen’s was approved. After going through nearly 50 designs, Mathisen chose a background of strips of color that weave together. This, according to Mathisen, represents “people coming together.” The foreground of the mural showcases contour drawings in a single line of “different faces with different features and angles,” Mathisen said. In her proposal, Mathisen wrote that “the colors combined with the varied faces and the symbolism of all being connected represent my view of Country Day. There are so many different people here, but this school brings us all together. This one line connects us all.” Senior Mohini Rye’s mural design was “unorthodox,” she said. Rather than use a traditional flat canvas, Rye planned to paint an underwater scene on the undersides of the two arches at each end of the Frank Science Center — to the right of the physics classroom and the left of the chemistry classroom — mimicking a tunnel. In Rye’s proposal, she wrote that she wanted to “bring color to an area that’s lacked any for a long time, as well as start the trend of putting art in hidden places.” Because of the nature of her proposal, Rye wouldn’t be able to transfer her design to a canvas, unlike the final two proposals: senior Sophie Naylor’s and senior
Tori Van Vleck’s. Naylor’s design, she said, was an “abstract rendition that’s symbolic of Country Day’s education.” “I designed it to focus on Country Day ideals and had incorporated traditional learning with other modern aspects,” Naylor said. Her proposal consisted of a Michelangelo-inspired figure sitting on the edge of a pool of water, representing Classical learning. Next to the figure would have been a globe within a cage, showing the unity of humans and their hardships. In the background would have been stairs, which represented moving into adult life. Lastly, Van Vleck proposed a design consisting of a face surrounded by shapes — representing growth, outreach and how people can shape their surroundings. She hoped to cover the wall in the alcove between Rooms 3 and 4. The mural was part of her plan to revamp that area as the senior gift, Van Vleck said.
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