The last two springs, ADM art students, led by high school art teacher Chloe Safley, have been working hard to create murals at the Dallas County Fairgrounds. The small but mighty mural team, made up of nine total students, has put many hours into planning and executing its murals.
This project came to be last spring, in 2024, when Safley was contacted about installing a mural on the restroom building at the Dallas County Fairgrounds.
“Last year, a gal named Sheri James, who works for the Dallas County Fairgrounds, reached out and said that she would like the restroom building at the fairgrounds to be painted with art from our students. So, last year, we got together a team and we painted a mural on one of the sides of the building. Then, we came back this year and painted the next side,” Safley said.
Although it may sound simple enough, planning out and creating a mural is much more complex than it first seems . . . there is a rather complicated process that goes into it that can’t be overlooked.
“We asked our client [Sheri] what she would like to see on the mural. Typically, it’s agriculture-related, and this year we did a bunch of corn. We got our group together, drew out our ideas, and selected our favorite pieces from each of them. We then took our favorite design, reconstructed it, sent it to Sheri, and then she sent it back to us with critiques. We changed it again, sent it back to her, and eventually we came to a design,” Safley said.
Savannah Morey, one of the nine students involved, shared about the time commitment of being on the mural team.
“We’re usually out there [the fairgrounds] for four-five hours each time, but we do get volunteer hours for it. Our planning meetings are just during Power Hour, so it’s not too much time outside of school,” Morey said.
If everything goes according to plan, painting the restroom building will be a four-year-long project, with the team completing one wall each spring. Two of the walls are already done, so the mural team only has the next two springs to finish the rest.
“They first hired us to do one wall, and then they liked it enough, so they wanted us to do all four walls over four years,” Morey said.
Kaylee Miles, another art student at ADM, has also been part of the mural team for the past two years. It has benefited her in more ways than one.
“It’s improved my artistic skills a little bit, but it’s also helped me get better at working with other people,” Miles said.
Miles said the team is looking to grow and encouraged more students to join.
“People should absolutely join because it’s fun, easy, it gives you a chance to socialize, and makes you better at working together. If you don’t know what to do, Mrs. Safley will help you through each and every step,” Miles said.
Moving into future years, the small mural team would like to grow and would love more students to join, even if they’re not currently taking an art class.
“The goal is to get as many people who are interested in it to have the opportunity to try it. People are welcome. You don’t even have to be in an art class, but if you’re willing to work, we’ll put you to work,” Safley said.
After the mural team finishes their four-year project at the fairgrounds, Safley said they’d be interested in starting a new project if there’s one available in the community.
“If they [people in the community] have work for us, we’ll paint. We’d like to keep doing one mural a year as long as the community is willing and we have a place to paint.”
