Sixteen-year-old Kayla Tibbs is not an artist, but her painting skills are now on display for all to see.
Kayla, a 10-grader at the STEM School of Chattanooga, and nine of her classmates created a mural of Albert Einstein on the side of the school’s building, located on the campus of Chattanooga State Community College. STEM is an acronym for “Science Technology Engineering Math.”
“It makes me feel good knowing that everyday people will see this and that my name is on it,” Kayla says as the students put their signatures on the large piece.
The project was the idea of local artist, designer and sculptor Barry Snyder, who got the materials for the work donated. He worked with the students to design the 13-by-16-foot mural.
Briana Bautista, left, and Kayla Tibbs talk about painting the Einstein mural on a wall at the STEM School at Chattanooga State.“We came up with the design, then drew a graph on the wall with pencil and numbered each element, then used makers and finally paint,” Snyder says. “I was really impressed with several students. I had two that came over and worked on it during Spring Break. It’s pretty amazing we got it done in seven days over a 10-day period.”
Such projects are in line with the STEM’s mission of challenging students, says principal Tony Donen. Each grade is given a different type of challenge, many of which include interacting with businesses or agencies in the community, he says. Some students are working with Volkswagen, for example, on a 3-D piece for the new Passats.
“They [the projects] involve an interactive process that includes innovation, critical thinking and collaboration and we expect high quality results,” Donen says. “There are going to be mistakes and decisions to be made. Sometimes it’s tough and changes have to be made and you have to adapt. It makes you plan.”
While the mural itself is completed, the students are working on a sign that will hang above it and features Einstein’s “Imagination is more important than knowledge” quote.
STEM 10th-grader Briana Bautista, 15, says the project was fun, but also educational. She had never considered herself an artist before taking on the challenge, but now she’s ready to so some more painting.
“I’d like to see it continued and add more panels to the rest of the wall,” she says.
Kayla says the project taught her a lot about planning, painting and figuring out how to focus on the small details, even when tackling a large project.
“We learned to stay in the lines, to make it neat and do things to scale,” she says.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.