This school year, SHS students were greeted on the first day of school by two new works of art in the halls: tile murals of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Marilyn Monroe, mounted in the mezzanine and by the locker rooms.

It took several years for Ginger Morris’s Ceramics I classes to create these pieces. In order to make the murals, students had to take the original images of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Marilyn Monroe and transfer parts of the images onto squares of clay. Once put together, the murals created large-scale copies of these iconic images.

   Morris decided to create more murals after an original tile design of a figure over a landscape was placed in the cafeteria several years ago. The original piece received very positive responses from both students and teachers.

“We started with the idea of creating more art for the school environment. Clay tiles make lasting art that can be seen by generations of students, teachers and parents,” said Morris, “Now that the Martin and Marilyn murals are on the walls we are hearing even more positive comments.”

  The art department hopes these murals are the beginning of many student works that will be placed on the walls over the next few semesters. “We have lots of wall space left around school, and I think it’s important for students to show their work here,” said Morris. Her Ceramics classes are now looking into clay designs that may include glass as well as other media.