Clarke Central High School Media Specialist Mary Ann Sullivan stands behind a cart of books that have all been either challenged or banned in schools in Georgia. Senate Bill 226, which was proposed in late March, outlines a new process for the decision-making of the selection and access to books in the school library. “As Library Media Specialists, we respect the opinions of any person or organization that questions the appropriateness of materials housed within our library. We do have a process in place so that a fair decision is made to keep or remove a title,” Sullivan said. “(Right now,) the local School Media Committee reevaluates the selection based on reviews, selection aids (and) educational purpose and determines the value of the material as a whole, not (just) based on a selected passage.” Photo by Luna Reichert
To highlight Clarke Central High School’s history during its 50th year anniversary, various CCHS English classes and art clubs are coming together to design a mural to be painted on the first floor.
In fall 2020, CCHS fine arts department teacher Amanda Price, in collaboration with CCHS English department teachers Brian Ash and Meghan McNeeley, applied for a grant to secure funding for a collaborative mural within CCHS. Every fall the AthFest Educates program opens applications for a multitude of grants according to Executive Director of AthFest Educates Jill Helme.
A graphic is shown with information about the AthFest Educates grant program. Clarke Central High School fine arts department teacher Amanda Price was granted $2,814 for her collaborative project to create a historical mural at CCHS, and Price has assigned the funding to specific areas to complete both research and the mural itself. “The grant money is divided. There’s money for the artist’s time, and then there’s also money to bring in guest speakers,” Price said. “(We are) having students (in the) elective literature classes for Contemporary Lit. and Writers Workshop do (most of) the research, and then we have money in the grant to bring in guest speakers. There’s also the money in the grant for the mural supplies and for the artist painting the mural.” Graphic by Gretchen Hinger
“The way that AthFest Educates does its grant-making is each August, everybody who’s interested in receiving a grant submits an application to AthFest Educates, and they can request up to $5,000 for that grant,” Helme said. “We go through all of the applications, we score all of the applications and then we start funding from the ones that scored the highest and work our way down until we run out of money. We’re usually able to fund just about half of the applications that we receive.”
Price was able to secure project funding through the John and Patricia Whitehead Grant from AthFest Educates for a total of $2,814.
“Ms. McNeeley and I came up with the idea for the mural together back in the fall semester (of 2020). (The John and Patricia Whitehead Grant is) a grant to fund research into historic Athens neighborhoods and the community and significant individuals around the area of Clarke Central,” Price said.
According to Price, the main goal of the mural is to highlight the history of CCHS and its community.
“The John and Patricia Whitehead Grant is for a collaborative mural research project that Ms. McNeely and I came up with,” Price said. “It’s a grant to fund research into historic Athens neighborhoods, the (CCHS) community and individuals (and) significant individuals around the area of Clarke Central. (We are going to) use that research to work with a local artist Marissa Mustard (a 2012 CCHS alumna) to then actually paint an illustrated historic map mural (that will) be in Clarke Central.”
To start the process that eventually led to painting with Mustard, McNeeley and Ash had their students contribute by assigning them a research project.
“Ms. McNeeley nearly immediately started assigning work with her Contemporary Lit. students, and it gave her a sort of renewed sense of purpose, and the kids really took to that in her class,” Ash said. “My class is (different). I’ve got a lot of kids writing. (They’re) just wanting to write about themselves, and try that and lots of different kinds of interests. So I wasn’t really pushing (the research project) hard on them. I was doing a lot of legwork on my own, just calling up people from the community.”
“Ms. McNeeley nearly immediately started assigning work with her Contemporary Lit. students, and it gave her a sort of renewed sense of purpose, and the kids really took to that in her class.”
— Brian Ash,
CCHS English department teacher
Despite being the only professional artist commissioned, Mustard will not be working alone. With collaboration from McNeeley and Ash’s classes, the National Art Honor Society Club has been able to create a design for the mural that Mustard will paint in the hallway next to the CCHS Media Center.
“We’re not actually going to be painting it because the professional mural artist is going to do that, but we’re going to give her the general outline of how we want it to look,” NAHS member and senior Tomás Dougan said. “Basically, (Mustard is) going to do all the line work that she does and then students will be filling in these flat colors in between lines under her guidance. We’re going to see if she’s comfortable with maybe one or two students at a time.”
According to Ash, the main ideas for the mural are coming from the students both in NAHS and the literature classes in an attempt to tie the research that all of the groups are working on together.
“(We’ve) got three different ideas of what this is going to be about, like all the (historical) streets, or the places in town, like ‘Moonshine Alley.’ (My class) wanted to incorporate those but we didn’t know how to when we were thinking about the mural, and (Dougan) came up with a great way to incorporate it in a small way so that we didn’t have to throw all that fun research out,” Ash said. “(The) people who come and see the mural (will see it) contains a little bit of Athens history there in the little easter eggs. The students worked really hard, and it is very cool to hear all the ideas they came up with, so they can have a really cool ownership outside of the artist who (will) come in and make it herself.”
The placement for the mural that Clarke Central High School fine arts department teacher Amanda Price and CCHS English department teachers Brian Ash and Meghan McNeeley are working on with their classes is shown juxtaposed with the current design plan for the mural. To complete the mural Price, Ash and McNeeley were granted $2,814 which will cover the costs of many things including the help of local professional artists Marissa Mustard, a 2012 CCHS alumna. “(The CCHS students are) doing all this research about different neighborhoods and stuff around Athens,” Mustard said. “I’m just gonna basically use their map and help to show them how to do it on a larger scale, and we’re gonna paint it on the wall. Then I’m just gonna add some flowers around it, and they’ll do most of the color and stuff. I’ll just help them out.” Juxtapose by Gretchen Hinger
Based on the mutual collaboration, Helme feels that this project will be a great experience for students who are engaged in either research or art to feel connected to their school.
“It was really exciting to (see the opportunity) for these students to be able to work with a professional artist. As a former high school English teacher myself, I also very much resonated with the fact that this was going to be a very thoughtful and meaningful research and writing project that I think students can connect to because (it is) where they go to school,” Helme said. “Those kinds of things are the kind of pieces that get students engaged when they can see how something ties into their experience. It’s much more interesting for (the) students.”
While the location has been confirmed, plans to paint the mural are still in the making. Once the mural’s design has been confirmed with Mustard, Dougan says the next step will be getting approval from the Clarke County School District.
“We’re still waiting for district approval. We have to get that sorted out. The goal (right now) is to get as much done as possible before the year finishes. We still have to confirm our design with the mural artist, get her input and after that we have to take it to the district. I don’t know how long it’s going to take, but hopefully we’re hoping just to get work started before the end of the year,” Dougan said.
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