Schools

Oak Forest Art Students Bring a Touch of Color to Acorn Library

Three Oak Forest High School Students designed and completed a mural at the Acorn Public Library in the Children's Reading Room. The three seniors worked on the project since the middle of the 2011-12 school year.

Three Oak Forest High School arts students, under the guidance of art teacher Dan Chambers, recently completed a unique project at the Acorn Public Library. Following the completion of the Children's Reading Room in the lower level of the library, Library Director Eric Werthmann reached out to Chambers about students from the high school possibly painting a large mural in the room.

“He was just interested in getting a mural painted on the far back wall and wondered what I thought,” Chambers said. “So, I presented it to my upperclassmen, I have a Studio AP Art Class, and I had three students express interest.”

Chambers said that seniors Christa McDonough, Taylor Scholtens and Rebecca Carey all volunteered their time and efforts to complete the mural. With Chambers' guiding hand, the three girls came up with the concept, design and executed the mural over several months' time.

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“The girls kind of independently came up with ideas and then we collectively worked to develop one theme,” Chambers said.

He added that all three of the girls had rainbows and stars in their designs, which were both incorporated into the final design. The completed mural features hands opening a book, which is releasing a rainbow with stars surrounding the rainbow. The stars feature various literary characters from children's books.

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“The idea is that the book basically has this treasure in it, of stories and interesting things for children,” Chambers said.

The finished mural can be seen at the Acorn Public Library during normal business hours.


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