By Jenny Ward

If you’ve wandered the halls of J.P or East at all this year, you’ve probably noticed all the art– especially murals– that adorns the walls of both buildings.

McCaskey students’ affinity for art isn’t new; students decorated the walls by the language wing in J.P with ceramic pieces in 2017, and in 1999, McCaskey students created a heartwarming mural on the then-YMCA on North Prince Street. Every year, new art projects show up on the walls, inside classrooms, and in the J.P lobby’s display cases. But there are plenty of walls left untouched by the creative stroke of a student’s paintbrush, and junior Cal Clapper wants to change that with a bold new idea for a club: McCaskey’s very own Mural Club.

Cal’s life revolves around art. Outside of school, he loves painting, drawing, ceramics, and even creating paper mache for Lancaster’s Ren Faire. At McCaskey, Cal has been involved in art classes like photography and ceramics, and more recently, the Mural Club.

It was no easy feat to start such an ambitious club from scratch, he explained. “It was a couple of months of just emailing people,” said Cal, “I met with Ms. Slick, and then I had to find an advisor for the club.” But Cal was determined to make this idea come to fruition, inspired by his experiences creating a colorful tree mural on East’s D floor last year:

“I had a lot of people come up to me while I was doing it, and they would say, ‘It’s really cool and I would like to have my art in McCaskey, but I just don’t have the time or the energy’ or ‘I would like to do that, but I couldn’t do it alone.’” Cal knew firsthand how time-consuming the process is, so he undertook the task of creating a place where students can come together to create something truly amazing.

And it is amazing, because a lot goes into creating a mural. Early development stages include whole-club discussions regarding the content, placement, and color scheme of the mural. Then, members of the club present their rough and final sketches before a design can be chosen. Prior to the painting step, the club has to first draw outlines on the chosen wall. Only after these crucial steps are completed can the club begin to create their vision.

As of May, the club is still in the early stages of the process, having just prepared the wall in question. They plan to begin their first outline soon. But for Cal, this mural represents more than just the club’s first official project. He hopes that the mural will not only be the first in a series of incredible artworks, but also will serve to inspire students, showing them what is possible with some teamwork and dedication. And his hopes for the 2025-2026 school year? They’re even higher.

“My hope for next year is to do many more murals, maybe even outside of McCaskey,” Cal proposed, “I’ve also thought about trying to get a public art fund to do one over the summer.”

But ultimately, Cal’s goal with the McCaskey mural club is to lay out a foundation where the club can continue to make more murals and grow even after he graduates. He hopes to recruit underclassmen who are dedicated to keeping the spirit of the club alive, and will, in time, take over. “It’s a lot of work– some of the organizational aspects of it,” Cal admits, “so I hope that someone else gets really invested in it and wants to continue it. I think that having communal art is wonderful, and McCaskey is such a vibrant environment.”

Cal’s dedication to contributing towards artistry in McCaskey is admirable, but also vital. Arthur Katona’s peer-reviewed 1942 article on murals’ belonging in high schools and colleges is still relevant today; In it, he argues that murals have a plethora of benefits in such environments, promoting education and art appreciation while serving as a source of inspiration for students. Beyond these scholarly advantages, art and color in general help to make a space feel more welcoming and bright– a factor the club placed great importance on when voting for the design of the first mural: a flower field on C floor, the newcomers’ floor.

Mural Club meets on Wednesdays in East room A119 and is open to anyone regardless of skill or experience. If you’re interested in joining, Cal has the following advice for you: “Join Mural Club! It’s different than almost any other medium, and anyone can do it. I think art is often so individualistic, especially at a school level, so it’s really cool to have art that is communally sourced. It’s cooperative, it’s public, and we can all feel proud about the end product.”

Indeed, Mural Club is already proving to be a fantastic way to help all students feel connected to McCaskey, whether they have put their mark on the mural or simply pass it on the way to math class.