BRICK – As you walk through the halls of Brick Memorial High School, you step into a vibrant world filled with colorful paintings.
Students can now look up at over 50 murals throughout the building, featuring inspirational quotes, beautiful illustrations, and more.
The high school made history as they held their first ever mural tour on June 13 hosted by the Mural Art Classes and Judy Harzer, who has been an Art Educator for 22 years and is the Mural and Art Club Advisor at Brick Memorial.
Before the tour began, Harzer gave a brief history of the mural program and how it has successfully developed into was it is today.
“Nine years ago, I encouraged students to paint murals as a way of collaborating and transforming the school environment. We all have a desire to create a space that reflects our own interests and values, and in painting the wall of Brick Memorial, the students had the opportunity to just that,” Harzer said.
The impact of the first murals was immediate, and the talent and efforts of the organization commanded the attention of the school community resulting in more requests for many more student work.
“In 2018, I recognized that our weekly club could no longer meet the demand for more murals. We were receiving dozens of requests and I noticed that the creation of large-scale public works was becoming one of the most popular art initiatives in the world. This was the moment when it seemed necessary to design and propose a curriculum for a comprehensive, hands-on mural making class,” Harzer said.
“I envisioned that this unique program would address the art historical context of public art, concept design, painting techniques, color theory, proposal writing and more. Art class would expand beyond the boundaries of the classroom into a public space, our hallways, while offering students real-world experiences,” Harzer added.
In addition to the more than 50 new murals that have been painted both Brick Memorial and Brick Township High School, students have painted murals in several of the township’s elementary schools, six mobile murals at the Freehold Raceway Mall and even some have been paid professionally to design and paint commercial murals for local businesses.
Harzer said how the program is the only officially approved high school class in the state of New Jersey and possibly the country, that is devoted to the art of mural making.
“We hope to further expand this program inspired by the belief that art builds and unites communities,” Harzer said.
Student Hannah Krinsky said she joined the Art Club freshman year and expressed how it was one of the best decisions of her life.
“I struggle heavily with anxiety so a new school with new people was incredibly intimidating. But Art Club quickly became a place where I could escape those stresses and surround myself with people who felt the same way. I made lifelong friends in art club,” Krinsky said.
During her freshman year, she painted the Bob Ross mural painting in the hallway and said it “serves as a reminder for myself and other students that were struggling for whatever reason that everything was going to be ok, despite what we were telling ourselves.”
Krinsky said seeing her art on her way to class every day and hearing the comments from her peers is such a gratifying experience.
“The feeling that knowing my artwork was easing stress and providing a small glimpse of joy into people’s lives is something I think every artist should experience. Which is why the Art Club and especially new mural class are so important,” Krinsky said.
Student Samantha Beale created three murals that are located inside the library at Brick Memorial.
Mural 1 titled ‘Never Give Up!’ features an anime-style drawing with Hiragana text. Beale painted the mural along with student Samantha Ritacco to express the interests of the student body.
“Considering we have manga here and the library is a safe space for students, we thought this would be a great place to put it,” Beale said. “It’s gotten so much attention; people are so excited to see their interests finally represented in school.”
Mural 2 is titled ‘Unity’ and is an original design by Beale. The painting consists of a mother nature figure holding Earth, with koi fish circling her.
“I drew it with the message of world peace, everyone coming together to protect our earth,” Beale said. “I want it to convey the message of in order for her to protect the Earth, we have to step in as well.”
Beale final mural titled ‘A Meadow of Peace’ also ties into the nature theme. Beale said she wanted to create something calming and soothing since the painting is on display in the library.
Harzer said the program provides students with many life skills. Despite the large number of students in the program, many are not going to college for art but rather engineering, business, history, etc.
“I’m so proud to be here to host this event with my students,” Harzer said. “It’s very near and dear to my heart… I am a practicing artist and I believe we should all practice what we teach.”
