A Mural to Honor our Soldiers

  

    The Central Christian College art department was given the job of a painting that would cover the side of the American Legion Building in McPherson representing the different wars the town has taken part in since the founding. The painting started in June, and they expect to finish at some point in November. Amanda Shaw, under the supervision of Prof. Naomi Ullum with the help of Stevie Penn have planned, organized, and spent hours painting. The goal behind the painting is to be a storyboard to educate people, as well as memorialize what people have fought for and sacrificed.

    The painting is being completed in different sections in the New Art Studio the school has established in the last year. Amanda Shaw works on the painting five days a week, for eight hours each day. Amanda says that she has easily spent 800 hours on the painting and with the planning and prep there has been at least 1,000 hours put into the pieces thus far. Before they started the painting they spent months researching and coming up with a plan for the final product. In addition to the ideas from the gentlemen at the American Legion Building, they consulted pictures and concepts from people, online resources, and in books.

    The painting represents the major wars that McPherson has been apart of since the town was founded after General McPherson. There are 5 wars that are represented with the main ideas and events. Not only from the war side, but also what the town and people at home sacrificed. WWI and WW2 are both represented, along with the Korean War, Vietnam War, and the Middle Eastern War. According to Amanda, the hardest part of this was going through all the material to decide what aspects of each war they wanted to draw into the storyboard.

    This is a great example of how art has the ability to educate and touch the community. Taking part in this project has been a great opportunity for Central, as well as the community to see what the students have the ability to do. This project has benefited both parties. The men from the American Legion Building stop by quite often to see the progress out of anticipation for the final outcome. When November comes many people are looking forward to the unveiling of the final product.