POCOMOKE CITY – A local artist and alumna has partnered with students and staff at Pocomoke High School to create a mural for the facility’s new gym, more than two decades after she created a Warrior mascot mural that graced the walls of the original gym.
Over the course of a week, artistic students from Pocomoke High’s summer academy spent hours alongside artist Dawn Tarr-Scott to create a mural featuring student athletes from each of the school’s sports.
Art teacher Alexandra Tobiassen said the art department raised enough money last year to commission a mural that would be placed in the school’s new gym. She explained that the old mural Tarr-Scott created when she was in high school was destroyed in the school’s renovation.
“We wanted something that was somewhat similar to the original mural, which was our mascot the Warrior,” she said. “We wanted to modernize it and make it something that the students here now can connect with.”
Tarr-Scott said Tobiassen and her father, retired art teacher Bill Buchanan, contacted her to create the mural.
She explained that it was Buchanan, her high school art teacher, and deceased educator Chuck Giles who encouraged her to paint the school’s original murals while she attended Pocomoke High in the early 1990s.
“It was my while life,” she said. “They kept pulling me out of class and I was game for that. Then I ended up painting a lot more murals.”
Tarr-Scott said the original mascot mural was influenced by Frederic Remington artwork. The new mural, however, features real-life student athletes.
Principal Annette Wallace said the new mural captures the spirit of Pocomoke High School.
“The idea was to capture the essence of family and being a Warrior,” she said. “It’s an important part of Pocomoke.”
Tarr-Scott created a sketch for the mural by taking pictures of student subjects in various “Warrior” poses.
Her drawings were then projected on Masonite boards and painted by students Lamont Hall, Alexa Hall, Chloe Warden, Quinn Onley and LeAnn McDowall.
“We did it on Masonite boards,” Tobiassen said. “That way if the school has money to renovate in the future, we can move it and still keep it as part of our history and not have to paint over it.”
Lamont Hall said the mural project was a great way to showcase school spirit and Pocomoke High’s student population.
“I think it’s cool that this is going to be in this school for a long time,” he said.
Tobiassen said the murals will be installed in the new gym sometime in the fall.
