Artist Shaun Larose relocates a ladder as Chattanooga Christian School students prepare a wall in East Chattanooga for a mural late Monday morning. Larose explained that the mural will be a community piece reflecting generations of hope and values.
Ali Rose Smith, an eighth-grade student at Chattanooga Christian School, scrapes paint from a wall in East Chattanooga off Glass Street to prepare it for paint during the first day of a weeklong summer camp with mural artists Shaun LaRose and Rondell Crier.There’s much more to creating a mural than slapping a bunch of paint on a wall.
First, the surface has to be washed and sanded, any cracks have to be filled and the entire surface has to be coated in a waterproof seal.
Nine local high school students came face to face with the hard work of creating art Monday afternoon when they began prepping a Glass Street wall for a fresh coat of paint. But not just any paint. Local artists Shaun LaRose and Rondell Crier spent hours designing a mural to fill an exterior wall of the Community of Christ church along Glass Street.
“We’re looking at Glass Street and the renewal efforts there and we’re hoping to create a mural that’s high enough quality to draw people there,” said LaRose, who also teaches middle and high school art at Chattanooga Christian School.
The students are participating in a weeklong summer camp that focuses on exposing them to professional artists, as well as getting them involved in local communities.