Spicing it up with ceiling tiles

When stepping into a classroom around THS, you might notice how some of the originally blank ceiling tiles suddenly have a pop of color. During the 2022-2023 school year, students in Ms. Midkiff’s art class have been given the creative liberty to paint a tile for not only the art room’s ceiling, but for any of their favorite teachers and administrators as well. Originally for seniors who took Art III, this opportunity is now available for any student taking an Art II class as well.

“I assist students who ask for help, but most of my Art II and Art III students are very independent when creating works of art,” Ms. Midkiff said.

Senior Evan Bartley has only painted tiles for Mr. Touart and Mrs. Ringstaff so far, but he is currently working on his own that is going to be put up in Ms. Midkiff’s classroom. His work consists of the Bill character from the Schoolhouse Rock’s song ‘I’m Just a Bill’, as well as a graph with hibiscuses in the corners. Bartley said that there is one particular teacher that he wants to paint a tile for. “I’d like to paint a tile for Mrs. Nester. She is my favorite teacher and she does a lot for her students, so I feel like it’s the least I can do.”

With recently finishing her first ever tile, Senior India Martin is making plans for her future projects involving her teacher’s ceiling tiles. “I would like to do tiles for Mrs. Dallas and Mrs. White,” Martin said. 

Using Pinterest as a source of inspiration, she plans on painting a cow for Mrs. Dallas and an apple for Mrs. White. With it only taking about a week for her to complete one tile, she plans on finishing these two projects by the end of the semester. 

Mr. Tittiris, a math teacher known for his love for penguins, has his very own penguin tile in his classroom painted by Senior Kailyn Berkley. He says that if a student were to paint him another tile, he would request it to be the Tunstall logo.

With teachers around the school having tiles painted by Tunstall art students, Mrs. Kirby’s story is a little different. 

“All of my tiles aren’t even from here, they’re from Dan River,” Mrs. Kirby said.

All four of Mrs. Kirby’s tiles are from her time teaching science at Dan River High School. She expresses how she has never received a painted tile from any students at Tunstall, but she would like to have one that identifies her classroom and the subjects she teaches.  

THS is full of students with a creative imagination and with this new opportunity to express it, this school will very soon show the individuality of its students through the ceiling tiles.