Alachua county high school students picked up their paint brushes for annual mural competition

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - Coordinators with the center of European studies at the University of Florida hand-picked 30 high school students to show off their artistic skills for all of Gainesville to see at the 5th annual 34th street wall competition.

This art-focused program is meant to reach out to students and allow them to express themselves while learning.

I love the community that it brings. Some of these students don’t know each other but they all take art classes at the same school and they are put in groups to make friendships and work on their time, their creativity, and put out these amazing pieces,” said outreach coordinator Carla Ruffer.

This year’s theme is ‘her-story’--where students picked important women in European history. Students painted portraits of Anne Frank, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Virginia Woolf, and Amy Winehouse.

Leila Gonzalez-Fong told TV20 that her love for painting grew during the pandemic and competitions like this allow her to express herself.

“I decided that I needed some way to express myself without being hurtful to others,” said Gonzalez-Fong. “I like to draw, I can do painting and from there I started working on skills I want to continue improving.”

Leila’s mom Jennifer Fong said this program is more than what’s on the surface.

“This year she decided to sign up because it was such a great experience,” said Fong. “Knowing what you’re team can do, the teamwork, the communication, everything about it is just a great experience.”

Each artist finished masterpiece will be digitally displayed at the Harn museum and the winner will be picked on March 9th.

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