Regularly scheduled painting at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) has covered up some wall murals made by students, but school officials say all that artwork has been cataloged for future viewing.
MVRHS Assistant Principal Jeremy Light told The Times by phone Wednesday that although he hasn’t been heavily involved with preventive maintenance at the high school, he is aware of the painting that was done. “If we paint over a mural, we take pictures of them and put them on a canvas, so they’re never gone or unavailable,” Light said. “Some of this stuff is from the ’80s and ’90s.”
Light confirmed that the large murals of athletes playing various sports near the gym entrance were painted over as part of the annual maintenance schedule, but those pieces have been memorialized in a different form. “We painted over that area just so it looks better as all the visiting teams come into our building. We have captured those murals in alternative ways,” Light said.
Sam Hart, coordinator of Pathways and special projects for MVRHS, said the school tries to paint during vacation weeks and holidays so the work is minimally disruptive to students and staff. All wall murals and student artwork being displayed, according to Hart, are captured in the form of high-resolution pictures. He added that all the past murals are contained in a catalog and are available for viewing. “Now we have opportunities for new artwork to be displayed on the walls,” Hart said.
