BRICK Brick Memorial High School students’ striking and colorful murals have completely changed the school’s atmosphere.
Judy Harzer, an art club advisor and visual arts educator at Brick Memorial, pushed her pupils to create murals almost ten years ago. The artwork immediately became well-known, drawing the school community’s attention and increasing demand for student work.
In 2018, Harzer decided to create and present a curriculum for an extensive, practical mural-making class after realizing her weekly club could no longer accommodate the demand.
I began to realize during the pandemic that [mural painting] was the biggest art project globally. I was sent to Berlin, Brussels, London, and Bristol after applying for a national fellowship, where I had the opportunity to collaborate with some of the artists who served as Banksy’s mentors, Harzer said. I became aware of the significance of extensive public service. You can see how it changes a community’s economy.
The course covers a variety of topics, including idea design, painting techniques, color theory, proposal writing, and the art historical background of public art.
More than 70 murals have been painted at Brick Township High School and Brick Memorial since the program’s beginning. The lesson gives students real-world experiences while extending outside of the classroom into hallways and public areas.
According to Harzer, this is the only high school course on the art of mural making that is legally recognized in the state of New Jersey, if not the entire nation.
In order to highlight all of the new murals painted throughout the 2024–25 academic year and their graduating seniors, Harzer and the mural art classes organized a Mural Tour on June 5. The BMHS Library’s Henri Matisse-inspired installation was a significant component of this year’s tour.
A completely immersive experience is provided by the installation, which turns the area into a live canvas. Its furnishings, walls, flooring, and windows are all painted with vibrant colors and organic shapes that have been simplified. After paint was inadvertently spilled on the carpet, the installation spread to the floor.
According to Harzer, the students will use and expand this immersive area next year, which was inspired by French artist Henri Matisse in the 1920s. We had a spill, and I decided to just cover it up, so Mr. Sarluca unintentionally let me do it.
Mason Triano, a senior who will be attending Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts in the fall, talked about how art has always been her passion and expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to showcase her work.
Triano remarked, “I have always been proud to be an artist, but I haven’t always been very confident in my work.” I find it incredibly meaningful that I have the chance to exhibit something in front of my classmates at school. I’ve also learnt to be proud of my artwork, and I’m particularly proud of my mural.
Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and other contemporary musicians are included in her mural, Influential Women in Modern Music. On TikTok, Triano posted her artwork, and her videos received thousands of views and a lot of insightful comments.
It was a little difficult to handle the criticism that the one video received, but Triano stated that as an artist, you must learn to overcome it and maintain your confidence in your work. I picked the theme of influential women in music for my mural because I know that many of my fellow students share my passion for it, and I wanted something approachable that everyone could appreciate in the hallways.
Harzer described how senior Given that Natalie Johnson is seeking a pre-professional degree in animal science in order to enter the veterinary field, she serves as an excellent illustration of how many students enrolled in the mural class are not pursuing careers in the visual arts.
This tool, in my opinion, is fantastic because it enables visual self-expression. We transformed an almost uninteresting structure into this vibrant display of color, as you can see,” Johnson added. To raise awareness of suicide, I painted a semi-colonial mural. I took that action because I think it’s important to discuss it in schools and raise awareness of the various issues that teens may face.
A mural of the human body painted by Makenna Ellis, a Pharmacy Studies major, was purposefully positioned outside of anatomy teacher Mr. O’Donnell’s classroom. To make science more interesting, the mural includes intricate drawings of the respiratory, digestive, skeletal, and muscular systems.
Harzer also acknowledged the Art Club members and the underclassmen who helped on a few of the murals at the conclusion of the tour.
This is meant to be a collaborative process, and the fact that they are cooperating makes it fantastic. Doing everything yourself doesn’t always make you the Lone Ranger. “I’m really grateful for all of them,” Harzer remarked.
Brick Township Schools deserves a lot of praise for allowing me to paint on their walls and even their floors. Inspired by the idea that art strengthens and unifies communities, we wish to grow this program even more, Harzer continued.
