CASPER, Wyo. — The soaring entrance to Natrona County High School still impresses even several years after the historic school’s extensive remodel and addition was completed.
There are, however, some areas that could use some improving, especially to the eyes of an artist.
“[NCHS Principal] Aaron Wilson had been talking to the admin about wanting to do something to act as a bigger, grander entrance for people coming into the building,” said NCHS art teacher Nathan Abel. A “wall of honor” had already been in the works on a section of the new addition on the west side, where milestones and students from NC’s more than 100 years will be dramatized in mural form.
Even before that area got started, Nathan and his fellow art teachers, Dennis Howell and Caitlyn Urhammer, started hatching a plan for a blazingly large white space looming over the commons area, which acts as sort of a Times Square of the school complex.
Nathan designed the mural, and just a few days after graduation the three got to work.
“What better way to start the summer break than with a mural project?” he said.
The piece is 38 feet wide and 15 feet tall. It’s also some 40 feet above the ground, requiring renting a lift that extends 42 feet to the top of the ceiling. Nathan’s design was printed out in large paper panels, which when laid out on the floor for the first time looked mind-bogglingly large. “It didn’t really sink in how large it was until after I designed it,” he said.
The process of tracing out the lines and then painting has gone considerably faster than they expected, he said, even considering standing for hours on a wobbly lift high up in the air. Fortunately there are no high-anxiety nerves among the crew, but there have been side effects.
“I’ve gotten seasick after spending two days up here,” Caitlyn said. “I had to go home and take a Dramamine and go to bed.”
Sore arms and stiff legs are among other symptoms of art suffering, but it’s still better than the time they painted murals in the new pool building.
“You had like a thousand percent humidity and 90 degrees and you’re up in the rafters; it was pretty miserable,” Nathan said. “No one’s gotten heatstroke this time.”
The project was completed over roughly six days, with the crew finishing up over a weekend. What was once a boring blank wall now sports a fierce mustang in NC orange looking over the words “Home of the Mustangs & Fillies.”
Nathan likes to imagine that someday years from now, NCHS’s current students will return and say, “Hey, I was here when they did that.”
“Whoever has to do something with that wall next, I hope it will be well after I’m gone,” he said.
