Gibson Southern’s Art Club completed its second mural of the 2022-2023 school year. It is located in the doorway of the female athletics locker room, surrounding the outside and on the inner wall by the door. The main goal of the mural is to personalize the locker room and to bring more recognition to Lady Titan sports at Gibson Southern. Art teacher and Art Club sponsor Laura Russell was in charge of the project.

“For me, it’s [about] bringing a visual thing to our school,” Russell said. “I think we need more on the walls anyways, and this was something he (Kyle Brasher) had asked for several years ago. For the girls, it just gives them a little bit more recognition.”

Brasher, the Lady Titans’ basketball coach, wanted the mural to make the locker room more unique.

“It is definitely neat to see the creativity of our students,” Brasher said. “It just personalizes the locker room and makes it feel a little bit more like ours as opposed to just a general building or room for anybody.”

He also placed a lot of emphasis on making sure that the female athletes felt recognized.

“I think sometimes it seems like a lot of the extra perks go to the boy sports,” Brasher said. “So, it’s just something that they can have to call their own.”

The mural is composed of nine square panels on the outer wall surrounding the doorway, each including a different sport. It encompasses all of the sports that have female teams at Gibson Southern: basketball, golf, swim, soccer, cheerleading, softball, cross country and track, tennis and volleyball.

“We tried to incorporate all of the female sports that are here,” Russell said.

On the right inner wall, there is a figure of a female athlete with a quote that reads, “Good players inspire themselves; Great players inspire others.”

The students involved in creating the mural were mostly Art Club members, including sophomore Allison Spindler, sophomore Ava Greene, senior Kaleigh Baehl, senior Amelia Robinson, junior Dara Tice and freshman Carissa Ralph. Baehl is the president of Art Club and took a lead role in planning and directing the painting process. Junior Matthew Wolf is not an art club member but was also helpful during painting. Alongside Russell, senior Ava Weisheit participated in the design process of the mural. The design process of the mural was started in August and painting began in September. Art Club members used their study halls and time after school to paint.

“I do like that the girls are getting some recognition by having all of their sports tacked up on the wall,” Baehl said.

Art Club members felt especially proud to paint something that contributes to their peers and has a strong and inspiring message behind it.

“I feel like it being in the doorway is almost symbolic, because when you go into the locker room, you’re getting ready to be an example to other people,” Spindler said. “So, you’re getting a reminder to just be your best self before you go to the game.”

In addition, most of those who participated in making the mural enjoyed contributing to bringing some color and spirit to Gibson Southern’s walls.

“I have never painted a mural before,” Greene said. “It was just a new experience, and it was really fun.”

“I thought it was really nice,” Wolf said. “My favorite part was probably the different sports.”