Megan Joyce
Executive Producer of the Ram Review
Look up from your tuna sandwich in the cafeteria and you should notice a colorful mural of students covering one of the walls. Take a walk outside of the Wagner Room and a painted tribute to the Class of 2009 seems to pop out of the otherwise bare tiles. Or, if you attend next week’s NCHS winter musical, Edwin Drood, immense portraits of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of England hanging on the stage may catch your eye.
But behind every piece of artwork lies an artist; in this case it’s the same artist. Meet senior Evelyn Harvey.
Her skill with a paintbrush and visual aptitude has quickly made Evelyn the go-to person whenever an art project for our school arises and needs volunteers. “I’ve always been interested in art,” Evelyn said, “but in high school my interests have increased and become more intense.”
A defining moment in Evelyn’s young art career came at the start of her freshmen year, when hired professional muralist Brec Morgan was working on the mural covering the cafeteria walls. “Mr. Morgan and Mr. Pavia came into my painting class and asked if anyone was interested in coming by after school to help work on the mural,” she said. “They were looking for students to paint background pieces, such as trees, and also the ceramic tiles that border the mural.” She took them up on the offer, and hasn’t looked back.
Principal Tony Pavia immediately took note of Evelyn’s enthusiasm. “I remember promising Evelyn that someday I would hire her to create additional murals for our school,” he said.
He was able to act on this promise when last year’s senior class asked for a mural as their class gift. “I was able to pick up a few skills from my experience working on the mural in the cafeteria that…I used to help me create the mural for the Class of 2009,” Evelyn said.
In order to complete the project, Evelyn conducted a lot of research. “We wanted to create something that would define their senior year, by incorporating both global and school events,” Mr. Pavia said.
The final product includes images of President Obama, the Beijing Olympics, NCHS championship sports teams, and graduation 2009.
Since her freshmen year, Evelyn has enrolled and excelled in a plethora of art classes our school offers, including drawing, painting, ceramics, and photography, though she asserts that, “after exploring all mediums, I still don’t have a favorite art form.”
For her senior year, Evelyn is taking on an independent study project that will further showcase her talents. “This new mural will be located across from Mr. Phillips’ room in the history hallway,” Evelyn said. “It is going to be a timeline of the evolution of American music from the 1800s to present.”
With music bars and sheets painted across the tiles, she seeks to portray the eras of gospel, jazz, blues, and rock. “I hope that those who view the mural will be intrigued by its whole historical aspect,” she said.
Her advisor, History Department Chair, Richard Webb, is there to assist her with her research and provide input on certain time periods, though he insists that, “The only thing I’ve done for Evelyn is find her space to do her project and help her deal with any setbacks that may arise. Every year I’ve been looking for a student to take on this kind of project and Evelyn was beyond willing.”
“The goal of all of the murals is to really give the school a sense of history,” Mr. Pavia said. “Ideally, every class should occupy some place in the school and every department should have some kind of visual.”
Now, after years of dedication, Evelyn has worked her way up to Advanced Studio Art, where she is working on sculpture. “I’m always one to challenge myself and explore different mediums,” she said. “I try to work through and around frustrations. You learn from what doesn’t work, and overcoming hurdles in art can be very rewarding.”
Evelyn exhibits patience in her projects, often going through several sketches before she settles on a final idea. Her craftsmanship and creativity is lauded by her advisors.
“She’s a very interesting person and talented artist,” Mr. Webb said. “She has the best work ethic and she loves what she does. She is definitely one of the most gung ho independent study kids I’ve ever had. Evelyn is an artist who is just dying to paint.”
Mr. Pavia is equally impressed with all that Evelyn has accomplished. “The great thing about Evelyn is she’s in it for the finish,” he said. “There’s no amount of superlatives that could possibly capture the way we all feel about Evelyn. She’s the best.”
Having recently completed her portfolios and applications, Evelyn plans on majoring in art in college and eventually having a career in some form of art. However, Evelyn isn’t the only one with eyes on her future. “I’m hoping someone will walk by her murals one day and say, ‘Oh, this is Evelyn Harvey’, and take the time to go look her up,” Mr. Pavia said.
For now, Evelyn is busy documenting history, one wall tile and one brushstroke at a time.
