WATCH: Local art students help create new mural

Numerous local art students collaborated with artist Danaé Brissonnet to create a new mural at David F. Watkins Memorial Park. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record Tanner Newton
Numerous local art students collaborated with artist Danaé Brissonnet to create a new mural at David F. Watkins Memorial Park. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record Tanner Newton

For the second time in a year, local art students have helped create a mural in a highly visible spot under the guidance of a renowned muralist.

The latest endeavor involved 18 young artists creating a new mural at David F. Watkins Memorial Park under the tutelage of international artist Danaé Brissonnet, who was in town to create a mural at 110 Central Ave.

Brissonnet brought the youngsters to the park for a two-day painting workshop, teaching them techniques for painting murals.

Many of the students who participated in the project were members of the Hot Springs World Class High School's Art Club. Nine of the club members who participated spoke to The Sentinel-Record about the experience.

Anna Moreno, president of the club, said "well the day was really hot, it was extremely hot, but it was really fun."

The section Moreno worked on featured astronaut dogs, which was co-painted with Briceyda Garcia and Hannah Johnson.

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"I thought it was a good opportunity, experience for like a medium, a thing I've never worked on before, which is a wall, and like making my ideas bigger," Johnson said.

"I feel like art is a really big, a way to like show your emotions and stuff, and I think participating in this, it just gave us a chance to give back to the community," Garcia said.

Johnson also painted planets on the mural while Garcia painted mushrooms.

"I designed a chunky cat," said Braydon Lappin. "I was going to do eyes first but then I got kind of stressed out because I didn't think it would mesh with anything else, so I just kind of drew cats because I know how to draw cats," he added.

"I think I learned a lot, because I don't paint that much and it's, I don't know, I just haven't ever painted on a wall before so it's interesting. Also, I got to overcome a lot of social anxieties, so that's neat," Lappin said.

Tykira Danner said she participated because she thought it would be fun. She drew a tree with faces on it.

"Originally, I just know that for me, I feel like my trademark is cherry blossoms," Danner said. "Me and Danaé, we had kind of collectively collaborated on making something different. Instead of the cherry blossoms just being something very beautiful, we wanted to add kind of a little spice and instead added faces with different expressions."

Alexandra Pierce and Danny Asitimbay worked together on part of the mural.

"So basically like wanted us to design separately, like individually, so I wanted to do something with eggs and chickens because I saw something on Pinterest and I was like 'Oh, that's so cool,'" Pierce said.

"And then I had an idea of like a head exploding of like egg clouds coming out, so we combined our ideas," Asitimbay said.

"So it was like the head was exploding and the eggs were coming out and there was eggs around it," Pierce said.

"It was really fun," Asitimbay said.

"It was a lot of fun, it was just really hot and I got sunburned like incredibly bad," Pierce said.

A skeleton in the mural was created by Davon Davis. "That was the first time I've drawn something like real big on something like that, and it was real fun. I enjoyed it and it was like a different experience for me and I went out of my comfort zone," Davis said.

"It was fun to play with the paint," Davis said.

Telia Europe said that she helped add detail across the mural. "I mainly helped out with the little chicks and helped coloring in some of the dogs and stuff, but overall, this was like a really good experience," Europe said. She also noted how nice all the adults that were helping out were.

"It was just like a really nice sociable place. You could just casually talk to anyone without any worries or whatever," Europe said, calling the experience inspirational.

Shirley Tipton, art instructor at HSWCHS, said she was glad for the students to get this opportunity.

"No. 1, it's going to get them service hours in the community so that they are actually out, using their talents as I've taught them to do and giving back to their community. No. 2, in 20 years when they come driving through this town with their families, that wall mural is still going to be there and they can share that with their families. It's something that just anchors you to the community whenever you can say you painted on that wall. And then thirdly, it gave them an opportunity to become familiar with Emergent Arts, which is one of our community partners, and I wanted them to know that as a town that is based on our arts, and its relationship with this school, that is just another way for them to have those connections, those networking opportunities," Tipton said.

Tipton also liked that the kids got to meet and work with Brissonnet.

"Any time that you can expose students to other artistic resources such as an artist like Danaé, or even with the Emergent Arts, as their educational program is, any time you can give them that extra exposure, they're not just being limited to what's in a classroom, they're being offered all these different opportunities that's available," Tipton said.

This is the second time that the club has gotten to paint on a mural in town, after they worked with Perrion Hurd on his Harriet Tubman-inspired mural at the intersection of Market Street and Central Avenue.

  photo  HSWCHS Art Club member Tykira Danner, front and artist Danaé Brissonnet work on a mural at David F. Watkins Memorial Park. Photo courtesy of Erin Holliday. - Submitted photo
 
 

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