Students project art projects into community

By Carly Guise
Editor-in-Chief

Once upon a time, in a landnot so far away, little painted lions starting popping up all around the little town of Red Lion.
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These lions, painted and staged in famous fairytale scenes by Red Lion students, appeared in local businesses and landmarks throughout the district for three consecutive years. And then, around 10 years ago, the projects stopped.

This school year, the idea has been resurrected and Mr. Hopkins’ Advanced Drawing and Painting class has been working diligently on their fairytale scenes since the beginning of the third marking period.

“The purpose of the project is to bring the community and the school together,” Mr. Hopkins said. “It’s to take the art program in the school and put it into the community, and then to bring the community back into the school through an auction of the projects.”

When the project was first introduced, students were able to choose which story they’d be depicting from a list of fairytales and fables. Among those chosen include the famous, like “Cinderella” and “The Three Little Pigs,” as well as lesser-known tales like “Belling the Cat.”

“I chose ‘The Steadfast Tin Soldier’ because it’s one of my favorite fairytales and it’s not extremely well-known,” senior Michaela Carey said. “I painted my lion to make him look like the old tin toy soldiers that they had back then and I’m going to put him on an old-looking storybook.”

Once the projects have been completed, they will be placed throughout the Red Lion school district for community members to see. The lions, found at spots like the Collinsville Library or Shadesville, will be part of a walking tour of Red Lion, with each lion being a stop on the tour.

“What we want to do is have information for each lion and put it in a QR code,” Mr. Hopkins said, “so that when someone comes up and they see the lion with its’ QR code, they can get information on that specific lion as well as the artist that created it.”
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The lions’ stories end with a public auction, with the money going directly to the art program.