By Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
December 16, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Beauty school is out until next fall.

Hector Casanova and his students from the Kansas City Art Institute, installed 15 more murals along the Bales and Lexington Avenue blocks at the former Scarritt Elementary School, 3509 Anderson Ave., on Wednesday, Dec. 9. The two-story building occupies an entire city block and was closed in 2010. Since then, neighbors have complained about graffiti on the building. Students were first given the chance to beautify the school’s boarded up windows and doors last year.

Just like the first group of students, this past fall semester, KCAI students in the illustration department once again worked with area residents to design and paint murals on the wood panels. The latest panels were installed in phases over the past month and focus primarily on the sense of community students gathered during trips to the Northeast. Interim superintendent Al Tunis said he appreciates the effort put forth by the KCAI students.

“This art goes beyond what’s on the building,” Tunis said.

Tunis added that he’s already identified the school district’s next project for KCAI students. His hope is to have the college students go into various KCPS high schools and help students better understand how they can be a benefit to their community.

“We want to provide students with your experience,” Tunis said.

Not everyone seems to appreciate the mural art, though. Within the past two weeks, two murals were tagged with graffiti. This was the first time in the past year and a half that any Scarritt Elementary School murals were tagged. Casanova said the murals were saved because of a high grade mural varnish they use.

“I’ve been wondering the past year and a half if the varnish works and now I know,” Casanova said. “These murals could be here for one year or 10, I don’t know. But at least we know the paint and varnish we use holds up.”

He explained his wave of emotions as anger, frustration and then curiosity.

“I want to meet the kids that did it because we all want to make our mark on the world and we could use their talent,” Casanova said. “I’d love to recruit them for the project because we have a lot of panels left to paint and I’d welcome the extra manpower.”

The mural project was a collaborative effort with Kansas City Public Schools and area businesses and organizations – donations from the Central Bank of Kansas City and UMB. On Wednesday, Dec. 9, at the Kansas City Museum, after the students got a chance to see their work up close, Casanova and his students held a community meeting and presentation on the Scarritt Mural Project. The students discussed the meaning, process and work that went into making each mural section.

Allason Lewis, Courtney Belisle and Steven Bolds painted the image of a little boy and his dog looking down into a pond occupied with numerous fish. They said they came up with the idea after a visit to the Northeast and saw how much life and culture is occupied in the small area. Belisle said theirs and all the murals look amazing.

“It’s cool to see all the people hours that went into this,” Belisle said.

“There are a lot of diverse styles that bring forth good messages,” Bolds said.

Lewis admitted she was disappointed to learn about the graffiti tagging because “murals are meant to divert that away from happening to a building.”

“It’s really disappointing that it happened so soon after the panels were installed,” Lewis continued.

After a little break, Casanova said he will begin seeking feedback and input from the community for the next phase. There will be no work on the mural project during the spring. All the art was executed in the KCAI Illustration Studio by the students. To check out the work online, visit www.facebook.com/ScarrittElementarySchoolMurals. If you have an idea for next year’s mural project, email Casanova and his students at scarritt.elementary.project@gmail.com.