Pedestrians, runners and bicyclists will have a chance to expand their minds when they pass through the new Kearns Boulevard tunnel by Treasure Mountain International School.
Seventeen students from the Park City High School AP studio art class, with guidance by Sue Galusha, are transforming the concrete walls into an underground art gallery.
Galusha, department chair for the high school’s fine arts program, said the project is made possible by a partnership between the Park City School District and the Park City Public Art Advisory Board.
“All these kids are willing to put the time in to this project, painting the walls,” Galusha said. “This is such an opportunity for them.”
Instead of painting a long continuous mural, the class decided to transform the individual slabs of concrete into personal canvases.
“You’re going to see everything from surrealism to abstracts to realism,” Galusha said. “The only thing you will not see is spray-paint art, because someone walked through the tunnel and complained one day.”
Still, the students are content working with brushes and gallons of exterior semi-gloss paint.
“We had a $500 budget and have gone through it,” Galusha said with a laugh.
The sessions take place during class time, but the students participated in after-school and weekend sessions as well. The class hopes to complete the project before the end of the school year, next week, but are cutting it close.
“It was hard scheduling around the snow the past couple of weeks,” Galusha complained, “We just can’t seem to get ahead of it. If we don’t finish, we may try to come back over the summer break or I may have to have next year’s class finish it up.”
Each student came up with an idea, which, in turn had to be approved by the Public Art Advisory Board.
Senior Christian Myer said his piece, like his other artwork, is based on a dream he had.
“I love anything dreamlike,” he said. “So my piece is absolutely random. It’s suppose to be a nebula and the center of it will be an eyeball.”
Myer, who has drawn since he was in third grade, likes the aspect of being a creator when it comes to art.
“It’s like you become a god,” he said.
David Glenn, also a senior, took a more realistic stance when deciding what to paint.
“Two years ago, I went on a scuba-diving trip with my parents to a little island by Honduras,” he said. “I decided to focus on underwater exploration, because it’s a world people don’t get to see that often. The painting (I’m doing) is based on an image I took of my mom and my step-dad ascending into the highlight of the sun.”
The painting by senior Karlie Primich features a broken brick wall and a forest.
“I tend to do more traditional realism than abstract work, because it’s easy for me,” she said. “This one is kind of happy because I’ll have the sun coming over the mountains in the distance.”
Julia Wythe, one of the three juniors involved with the project, said her work, featuring a sunflower-headed girl dancing on top of skyscrapers, is a symbolic nod to herself.
“Someone close to me once called me a flower that was blossoming, and I’ve always wanted to go to a big artsy city,” she said. “So this is a personal abstract statement.
“I can do realism if I try, but painting abstract is a great feeling. You can let yourself go.”
Senior Blake Peterson, said her work, which was just in the beginning stages, was inspired by street artist Shepard Fairey.
“My work will be about big bold designs and shows a kid going to school,” she said. “I love graffiti and I love the pop art of Roy Lichtenstein.”
“This project has been so much fun, you just can’t imagine,” Galusha said. “When you think of an artist who loves art for the sake of art getting to work on an eight-foot by eight-foot canvas, it’s like a dream come true.”