Walking through the 600’s hallway, students are greeted by murals created by Spanish classes that reflect both the devastation of war and the hope for peace. Two periods of Señora Veltman’s Spanish 4 classes made their own large murals about the topic being studied in class: the Spanish Civil War.
The murals were created to represent the Spanish Civil war, which was a very dark time in Spain’s past. The civil war started as a rebellion against the strong, tyrannical government by the military in favor of a more democratic system. Civilians were targeted by both the government and the republicans, resulting in over 200,000 civilians being killed. Because of all of the deaths of civilians, the people of Spain highly protested against the war, with one of the most common ways being through art.
Madison Wilhite, sophomore, said, “The mural needs to have a peace sign while still representing the hardships of war. Each person showed different perspectives on their part of the mural and had at least one symbol of hope or peace to represent the want for peace.”
Because the war was a major topic of study, Señora Veltman assigned students to create large, non-political murals inspired by Picasso’s Guernica. The aim of the murals is to show the devastation of war while also depicting the message of peace.
Señora Veltman, Spanish teacher, said, “They had to write an essay that specified what their choices about war and peace were.They also had to speak to me from memory without using paper about what they painted and why they chose the colors, why they chose the symbols and whether they thought that the mural actually had a flow or a cohesion to it… They had complete free rein as small groups, and as a class to create these murals.”
Although the murals carry a single message about the devastation of war and the importance of peace, each group added their own perspective to the project. By choosing specific colors and symbols, students expressed how they interpreted the themes discussed in class.
Ellis Shoenberg, sophomore, said, “What my part represents is the destruction mixed with the peace. Bright colors for the sky represent peace with an angel, while the destroyed building below depicts the cost of war. We wanted to portray the damages to society during war and the steps that it takes to rebuild it.”
The murals are planned to be displayed in the hallways for as long as they can be.
Señora Veltman said, “I’m going to leave them up as long as I can get them to last, because they’re beautiful. It adds to the liveliness of the school seeing something on the wall made by the students.”
