Published: March 12, 2009 10:45 pm         

Waller students do window murals for anniversary

The kids at Waller Junior High School have been working hard to spruce up the school in its 50th anniversary, and one of the big projects is nearly finished.

Art students of Pam Gilbreath are making stained-glass-style window murals on the long row of windows between a hallway and the cafeteria.

Gilbreath said custodian Don Bower asked if she could think of a way to make the windows more attractive while still maintaining a level of separation between the hall in the cafeteria. Prior to the project, the windows were covered by aging blinds.

Gilbreath remembered seeing a project done by another Waller teacher Kerry Haskit. Haskit decorated some glass with “gallery glass,” a type of window paint that looks like stained glass.

“I loved it,” Gilbreath said. “I got her advice and started working on a grand scale.”

Originally, four window panels out of the row were going to be “stained” and Gilbreath and her art classes began brainstorming on a theme for the four panels.

“Then we came up with the multicultural theme because diversity is really big,” Gilbreath said.

The four original panels decorated were based on cultural themes. One panel has an American Indian design, one has an African design, one has an Asian design and one has a Central American/South American design.

A message is spread across the four colored panels, with one sentence on each panel. The message is: “Go places. See things. Meet people. Celebrate diversity.”

After the first four panels were finished, everyone wanted to keep going.

“We were so impressed with the way it looked that we didn’t want to stop,” said Gilbreath.

The newly stained panels were spaced with a non-decorated panel between each of them. Gilbreath made clear designs on the plain windows so they look like they have been etched.

But that still was not the end.

Gilbreath and her class decided to color the end panels. They wanted to stick with their theme of diversity.

“(On the first panel) we decided to do ‘our world,’” Gilbreath said. “We have all seven continents represented.”

The final panel bears symbols representing Waller, Enid and Oklahoma.

The project will be finished in a matter of days, and even though it has been a long project that began in the first semester, the kids have not grown tired of the task.

“When they finish with their regular work I ask for volunteers (to work on the stained glass project),” Gilbreath said. “I get eight or 10 hands raised.”

Gilbreath said probably 200 kids have contributed to project. She said it is fun to watch the kids as they pass through the hallway on their way to various classes.

“The kids will walk by and point out the parts they did,” Gilbreath said. “If you can involve the kids, then they take ownership.”