BCEF's Art on Main Continues with Batesville Intermediate School

A new mural in downtown Batesville was created by nine fifth-grade students at BIS.

Photo provided.

(Batesville, Ind.) - The next installation in the Batesville Community Education Foundation’s (BCEF) mural project in downtown Batesville has been installed, created by nine fifth-grade students at the Batesville Intermediate School (BIS). Using this school year’s theme of Batesville Community School Corporation (BCSC) staff, the BIS mural is a composite representation of nine types of staff positions at the school. Substitute art teacher Lori Barr developed a plan to incorporate the different types of employees at BCSC and worked with students to develop the artwork.

“I created categories of staff positions and each student was assigned a randomly selected category,” Barr explained. “Utilizing my graphic design background, I introduced the fifth-grade classes to basic graphic design elements: using simple graphics, positive and negative space and K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple Silly). Each student was given a randomly selected category and asked to design a 9-inch square block. BIS principal Dana Cassidy and I selected the top three designs in each category, leaving the final selection for each category to the board of BCEF.”

Categories featured in the mural and student artists selected are instructional aides (Amy Perry); teachers (Lily Moenter); extras [occupational therapy, speech, counseling, technology] (Bella Shook); office staff (Brielle Maple); cafeteria (Ella Wade); allied arts (Briana East); transportation (Bhuvi Ranka); custodial/maintenance (Owyn Yorn); and administration (Zoe Nighbert).

“This is just another example of the creativity of BCSC students,” shared Jama Linkel-Cleghorn, BCEF board member and program chair. “We’re so excited that our program allows local public school students with a venue to display their talent for the entire community to enjoy.”

The Art on Main program, sponsored by BCEF, features artwork from students from the four Batesville Community School Corporation (BCSC) schools on a rotating basis. The mural is located on the side of the Simons Company building on South Main Street in downtown Batesville. BCEF would like to thank Lori Barr for her help with her school’s entry as she fills in for regular art teacher Olivia Branch and BIS principal Dana Cassidy for her support. In addition, Jimmy Rowland from Rowland Graphics donated his time to install the mural and Nick Maple, owner of the building, provided the use of his location for the display. BCEF board member Ryan Holcomb assists Linkel-Cleghorn with the program. The BIS mural will be on display until early next spring, when artwork from the Batesville Middle School (BMS) will be installed.