A coloring-book style mural stretching down the hallway at Startown Elementary School came alive as students filled it with color.
Students in all grades painted the mural in shifts on Dec. 16, gradually coloring in the piece created by artist James Smith, who also goes by 1440.
Smith is from Hickory, and now lives in Los Angeles. In 2023, he painted the mural on the former Woolworth building near Union Square. He also painted a mural in Hildebran in early 2024.
Smith was originally commissioned to paint a mural in the gym. He did both, one in the hallway and one in the school gym.
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The gym mural depicts archery targets, a silhouette of an archer and a large, realistic painting of a tiger, which is the school’s mascot.
The gym mural cost $7,500 out of the archery team’s funds, said Archery Coach John Warren.
The hallway mural covered one wall with objects symbolizing different aspects of Startown Elementary. There is an archery target and arrows representing the archery team, paw prints representing a tiger, robots representing the robotics team and more…