Humor a Lesson for Taft High Muralists

Hovering over a group of student artists working on a mural in the hallway of the Taft High School administration building, art teacher Kathi Martin gave them pointers about shading and color and made a rare comment about content.

“Are you sure you want to put ‘South Park’ there?” she asked project captain Zad Potter as he painted the cable show’s cartoon characters who have replaced Beavis and Butt-head as coolest among teens.

“Yes,” the senior answered simply, continuing to cast them among headstones in the Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood.

Martin shrugged and dropped the issue. She’d taught them to think for themselves and she wasn’t going to censor them needlessly now.

“I’m trying to teach them to have the freedom to go through their own lives and make changes, develop their own artistic voice,” she said. “They are brought up with images that are absolute . . . but I’m trying to help them develop a sense of humor about life.”

For 12 years, Martin has guided students through mural projects, covering the hallway with scenes of their city. The murals depict favorite hangouts such as Hollywood, Universal CityWalk and Venice Beach, or significant events like the aftermath of the Northridge earthquake and day-to-day life in students’ own neighborhoods.

This year the students chose to paint a landscape of the San Diego Freeway along the Sepulveda Pass--a well-traveled road the teens often take when they leave the Valley.

The distinct outlines of the new Getty Center, Skirball Cultural Center and the aforementioned cemetery have already taken shape, and the students hope to finish the mural by the end of the school year.

The artists--as few as 12 and as many as 60 per semester over the years--are chosen by Martin from among those in her art production class.

During breaks from classes, some of the school’s 3,000 students stop by the murals. They hope to find other bits of humor former students put there and in some cases proudly point out themselves or their cars in the crowd scenes in some of the paintings.