Rancho Cucamonga High School puts a pause on mural making on campus
RCHS administration decided to temporarily pause the painting of murals.
With the ongoing construction on campus, Rancho Cucamonga High School administration decided to temporarily pause the painting of murals.
According to school officials, this decision is just a pause, at the moment. However, RCHS principal, Mr. Joshua Kirk, said he is interested in seeking new potential ways of displaying student artwork. Kirk expressed that the decision is not a hard no, but one that is necessary now.
“I can’t say a definite no,” Kirk said. “I strongly don’t see it happening on school buildings, but there are other parts of this campus that are possibilities.”
The award-winning dance and sports teams and the vast number of school organizations can distinguish RCHS from any other campus, but a hidden gem on the campus is the student-designed and painted murals decorating the corridors.
At the moment, there are a few major murals on campus, one being the various images depicting vast fantasy lands and aspects of art history located along the second-floor corridors of the west side of campus. Another is located on the second-floor corridors on the east side of campus depicting drawings of different Latin culture aspects, and lastly, unfinished murals line the main stairwell of the library.
The previous Mural Club, now-named Artbox Club, used to paint all the murals on campus. The Artbox Club is currently finishing the last mural.
However, once the club finishes painting the current murals, the creation of new murals is temporarily discontinued. This decision is a result of the construction currently happening around the RCHS campus, with new a math building going up in the east quad and the potential for new projects, the district has found it best to put a pause on the creation of new murals anywhere on campus.
Kirk isn’t the only staff member with the idea of other possible ways to display murals on campus. Former art teacher and advisor to what used to be the Mural Club, Ms. Dianne Gutierrez, had a similar idea. When learning about the decision to pause the murals, Gutierrez fought hard to reverse it. However, when the decision eventually passed, she looked toward finding new opportunities to showcase art around campus.
“We talked about painting on a large canvas or big boards and being able to mount them on certain walls and maybe take them off and on as you please,” Gutierrez said.
So despite no longer being able to paint the walls of the RCHS campus, this is not the end for murals on campus and the Artbox Club. It’s only a matter of time before the appropriate steps to be able to create new art pieces.
Kassidy Coleman is a senior at RCHS, and this is her first year in journalism. She is the Assistant Editor for the school newspaper, The Cat’s Eye. Her...
