Jemtegaard student-artists stick it to the school

In the hallways of Washougal’s Jemtegaard Middle School, art students have showcased the way they see their local communities by creating tape art murals of trees, skylines and even the school’s Husky mascot.

The students have joined the Tape Art movement, which has been spreading tape murals across the world since 1989.

The idea originated in Providence, Rhode Island, when artists discovered an ingenious way to create large-scale, collaborative drawings in public spaces by using tape.

Since then, artists have created more than 500 large, public tape-art works, as well as thousands of smaller drawings, everywhere from Tennessee to Japan.

The Washougal students’ theme for their school-based tape art project is the community of the Pacific Northwest, Washougal and Jemtegaard.

“I was really impressed with what the students came up with, and just their concepts of what they wanted on their school walls, and what was meaningful to them,” Jemtegaard art teacher Dani Allen said.

Seventh-grader Cale Larson created “A Couple of Trees,” a mural depicting four trees and a tree stump with an axe. In his written explanation of his piece, Larson said the artwork represents the local environment.

“… when we cut down, but don’t grow back, we will never see the beauty of trees and what they do to us,” Larson stated in his artist explanation. “It is basically a symbol of what our world does nowadays. Destroys, but does not fix.”

Allen, who has taught in the district for 11 years, said most students spent time preparing and planning their tape art projects.

Eighth-grader Ethan Cherry created a large-scale shoe design with the words “Keep treadin’ on,” and said the mural meant a lot to him.