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Talent kids restore 20-year-old mural Photo by Jim Craven Like a prized work of art, this Talent Elementary School mural is being restored -- by Talent Middle School students who fondly remember the colorful wall during their younger days. Middle school art students preserve a slice of history they enjoyed in elementary school By VICKI GUARINO TALENT -- They studied the masters, painters like Michelangelo and Diego Rivera, who made walls tell stories. They discussed the discipline of art restoration and the need to get inside the artist's head, to understand the meaning and purpose of the work. Then Talent Middle School art students carried paints, brushes and cleansers across the street and set to work on yards of indoor mural at the elementary school. They're bringing new life to a wonderland of faded scenery painted 20 years ago by elementary students. Swimmers now stroke across bright blue lakes. Loggers move a glossy crawler up a mountain to snag a tree. Freshened grass grows around a school and out to the football field. A scuba diver keeps ahead of circling sharks. Sledders revel in new snow. "We're just kind of improving on what they did," says seventh-grader Marisa Grazes. "It's brighter and cleaner," says sixth-grader Justine Duarte. "I think we're showing their meaning better," says eighth-grader Olivia Reyes. "We have better colors and lines." They came along just in time. Talent Elementary Principal Jeff Fagan says the mural had suffered decades of 6-year-olds running their fingers along the walls. Colors had become faded and muddy. Frankly, Fagan says, "It was really ugly." No one expected the district to pay to have the mural restored, so Fagan -- reluctantly -- was about to have it painted over. "Some of us old-timers didn't want to lose it," says second grade teacher Geri Halpin. "Even some of the kids come back and see things they hadn't noticed before." Some of Halpin's students were among the original artists. Back in the 1970s, a mother got the idea for decorating the drab blue corridor. She had every student draw a scene of something they enjoyed, something they had seen, something that meant something to them. She traced each drawing on the wall -- up and down both sides and around the corner of an entire classroom wing. Then she had the kids came back to color their own sketches. Marisa, along with classmate Tabitha Farrar, remember the colorful walls from their first days at school. When they got older they remember picking out favorite sections and scenes. Illustrations from Winnie the Pooh topped their lists. Like any good mural, this one has meaning too significant to wipe out, the school decided. A willing volunteer to help was found in Talent Middle School student-teacher Greg Boedecker. The Southern Oregon University student saw a great lesson in the making. "It's one thing to talk about it," says Boedecker, "but it's another thing to go out and actually restore someone's work. "And it's another way of appreciating art, by getting into another artist's head." To prepare his students, Boedecker brought up the works of famed masters and had the class explore the history and culture of art still prized -- and in continuing restoration -- in places like Rome and Mexico City. The class also discussed the meaning of art, the importance of self-expression and, ultimately, why the work of a bunch of elementary school students 20 years ago is worth saving. After the obvious fun of getting to paint all over a wall, and getting away from school to do it, seventh-grader Zachary Costelow says he particularly likes the idea of saving and preserving someone else's work. Students say the hardest part of the job is not having enough time to work. "Some of us are willing to give up our time to finish," says Marisa. They hope to finish by the end of the school year. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA