CMS Students Create Mural of Chesterton European Market

CMS-European-Market-Mural-1Chesterton Middle School advanced art students in Jody Nix’s class have spent the last three to four weeks painting a mural of the Chesterton European Market in the CMS Cafeteria.

Nix first launched the idea at the beginning of the semester to the students as a community service/public art project. “I explained to the students that as artists we believe that art equals community. It is up to artists to create awareness about art and give back to the community,” said Nix.

Nix and the students started brainstorming and came up with two ideas. One was the Chesterton European Market incorporating the town of Chesterton and the other was the Dunes incorporating the beach, Chicago skyline and steel mills. “The students have had exposure to the work of Jeff Hagan from his visits to CMS, so the murals will incorporate some of the flavor of his art.”

CMS-European-Market-Mural-2It was decided that the artwork would be painted on the walls of the cafeteria, so that all the students could enjoy it and it would brighten the cafeteria.

In a chance meeting at a salon in Valparaiso, Nix met young local artist Heather Piotrowicz and after talking with her about the project enlisted her help. Piotrowicz, a hair stylist by trade, loves art and has painted a few murals in her hometown of Ft. Wayne. “When I took this project on I wasn’t sure what it was going to be like,” said Piotrowicz. She donated her time several days a week in the mornings with the students before going to her job. “The students are very talented and this has been a wonderful project to work on with them,” she continued.

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There were three teams of students that worked on the mural, but three main students did the majority of the work with Piotrowicz. Eighth grade students Haylee Corzan, Brittany Gallardo and Emma Stricker worked during their class time as well as during their student resource time to complete the work of the mural. Corzan and Gallardo emphasized how fun the project has been to work on. This is the first mural they have worked on. “Since we started on this mural, I am more interested about going to the European Market,” said Corzan.

Nix with the help of Piotrowicz, Nix's artist daughters Chelsea and Allison, and the three students listed above will be working on the second mural of the beach starting at the end of July in hopes of completing it before the new school year begins in August.