In recent years, murals and student art have adorned the walls of Lane’s hallways. Whether it be the large mural by Door A or the mosaic water fountain, the creativity and artistic direction of those within Lane shines through. 

The Art Department’s next project has been coined the Positivity Project, where select art students are working together to design and create paintings that will go on individual bathroom stalls within the next year. 

Ms. Diamond, who teaches Art I, was a part of the project where some Lane art students were asked to paint the bathroom stalls at Audubon Elementary. Audubon contacted Lane after attending Lane’s elementary art show and asked if they would be interested in using their artistic skills in their bathrooms, Diamond said. 

“Last year, the Student Voice Committee at Audubon Elementary reached out, and they had the idea of painting their bathrooms with gender-neutral colors and empowering quotes,” Diamond said. “We got a team together from Lane, we designed it, and then we went down there and painted it.”

After the Art Department shared photos of their work at Audubon with Principal  Tennison and Assistant Principal Ms. Hanly, they were impressed with the paintings that the students had done and were interested in bringing that same idea to Lane, Diamond said.

“Ms. Hanly reached out to Ms. Custodio asking if we could do something similar,” Diamond said. “We reached out to pretty much the same team that went down there and a couple of other people.”

The students chosen to work on the painting project have been attending meetings so that they can discuss plans for the design and choose inspirational quotes. 

“The goal is to come up with inspiring quotes or really nice designs, so when you walk into the bathroom, it is like a safe space and something that can be positive,” Diamond said.

The students chosen for the project are hand-selected by their teachers and from a variety of art classes, including Printmaking and Painting. 

Salma Jaimes, Div. 056, who is in Studio Sculpture and Printmaking, is among the students who are coming up with designs for the stalls. 

According to Jaimes, the focus of painting the bathroom stalls is to bring life to the somewhat “boring” bathrooms and bring light into the lives of the students that see their art. 

“To me, it’s just like making something that you can connect to or something that you can relate to, and something that says ‘keep going’ or a flower that you look at that makes you happy,” Jaimes said. 

This is not the first time that art students have been able to illustrate their creativity on the walls of Lane. The Art Department has led various projects over the course of the past few years that beautify the bathrooms, including painting murals around the bathroom entrances. The murals are adapted from famous paintings, such as The Great Wave by Hokusai and Water Lilies by Claude Monet.

According to Diamond, the Art Department hopes to have painted three bathrooms on the first floor by the end of the year.