At the end of the 2016-2017 school year, the National Art Honors Society painted a wing mural that would include the quote “Speak for the silent, stand for the broken.”
  The project was led by Mrs. Kathryn Humphrey, who, said that the inspiration for the quotation came from Mrs. Jennifer Chandler, who approached her in the fall of last year after hearing the words at workshop she and Mrs. Carla Harward attended.
  The mural was placed in the atrium near the steps going up to the third floor, a place that would get the most visibility, according to Humphrey.  “We originally talked about putting it outside the journalism room, but we thought that[atrium hall] was a better place for it,” Humphrey said.
    “There is an artist, Kelsey Montague, who goes around the world and she paints these black and white kind of wings that are meant to be interactive…” Humphrey commented about the design for the wings.  She thought, “…Wouldn’t that be really great to kind of do a twist of that at North Harford, but maybe make it colorful and make the wings be hawk wings, since we are the Hawks.”
      Kelsey Montague’s hashtag that goes along with her interactive paintings is ‘#WhatLiftsYouUp.’ She wanted the mural to be interactive with the students, not just something that they would look at and walk by. Students are encouraged  to pose in front of the wings and “feel more engaged in the piece of art.”
    Senior Maggie Walden was one of the students in the National Art Honors Society that assisted in painting the mural. “It was a fun project to work on with friends and I enjoyed creating something that would be on the wall of the school for everyone to see…” Walden said, hoping that the art and the quote included in the mural would impact some people.
    “I think it’s really important to get more art, permanent art in our school,” Humphrey said. The painting brings her a lot of joy and always brings a smile to her face, and she hopes that the mural will bring as much joy to others as it does to her. “…It’s important to realize that you can create art, you can view art in many different areas. Not just in an art room, and not just in a museum.”

Photo credit: Kate Meagher
Student pictured: Maggie Walden