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Where the buffalo roam

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Students leave lasting artistic legacy in high school hallways
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By
Mavis Fodness, reporter

Five Luverne High School seniors are leaving a lasting impression for future students in their school.
Mace Walgrave, Susan Thompson, Colton Kunkel, Mitchell Muller and Sandra Renken have taken on the challenge of painting a legacy mural in the high school’s north stairwell.
The group began working on the mural eight weeks ago, and last week they began adding paint to the walls, covering the pencil outlines of a bison.
“The kids are leaving the murals behind for future students,” said art instructor Chris Nowatzki.
Three murals make up the legacy series and represent tributes to the school, the city and the region. Central to the mural is a single object that artists want people to think of when they walk by.
The first mural was completed three years ago in the high school’s south stairwell. It depicts the school’s mascot, a cardinal.
Nowatzki said the legacy murals are projects reserved for independent arts students as a reward for their dedication. It is also meant to be a collaborative project.
Because of the time and effort necessary to complete the mural, it has taken three years to have a group of students dedicated enough to finish another project.
With the current mural, each student has a part to play in its completion.
Walgrave and Thompson will work on the bison, and Kunkel, Muller and Renken will take the lead on the background.
The group is expected to be finished in early June.
The current art students are completing the mural designed by the first group of mural painters.
Those students chose a single bison walking through prairie grass as a symbol of the region. In the background are the giant eyes of Luverne native and world-renowned nature photographer Jim Brandenburg.
“He has been very instrumental in trying to restore the prairie,” Nowatzki said about Brandenburg’s Touch the Sky Prairie northwest of Luverne.
Each symbol is designed in an impressionist style. The background features the intricate grid patterns made popular by artist Chuck Close.
Nowatzki said the regional mural was designed using paint colors of subtle and muted browns, green and blues. The spirit mural used vibrant reds.
The five students working on the current mural will have input into the next design to represent the city.
Mace Walgrave has taken the lead in completing the first brush strokes of the current mural.
“It’s kind of neat to think my kids will get to see this if they go to school here,” she said.

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