The mural will be painted on the south side of The Insurance Building, located on the corner of 6th Avenue and Fillmore Street.
The creative collaboration is being underwritten by Amarillo National Bank, which invited the art departments at AC and WT to submit individual designs and then jointly paint a mural commemorating the bank’s 125th anniversary.
The bank selected a concept submitted by Aimee Miller, a freshman graphic design major at Amarillo College.
Students and faculty from both schools will team up later this month to make Miller’s mockup into a mural on a surface about 50-feet long by 30-feet tall.
The painting of the mural is expected to begin sometime in May, depending on when all the necessary equipment and paint can be assembled. Once begun, it should take a week or two to complete.
Participating student artists will represent AC’s Art Collective, sponsored by instructor of art Stephanie Jung, and WT’s Mural Squad, under the tutelage of assistant professor Jon Revett.
Miller’s colorful collage features a locomotive, hot-air balloon, oil rig, conspicuous sunset, cowboy and, of course, cattle. A stairway that diagonally dissects The Insurance Building’s south wall did not hinder Miller’s design; she used it to aim her cattle in a dusty descent.
“I read about the history of Amarillo National Bank,” Miller said. “They want to celebrate 125 years, which is nearly as long as the history of Amarillo itself. I wanted to include the sort of things I have seen growing up here all my life – oil rigs, rodeos, trains, sunsets, things like that.
“It’s really cool to think that it will be my design going up on that wall in downtown Amarillo.”
AC’s Jung said she is delighted that the design selected for the mural belongs to an AC student; however, she is equally pleased that WT’s Mural Squad will be on hand to help lead the application effort.
“We’re really looking forward to this project because it should be great fun and provide our students with a unique and valuable experience,” Jung said. “It is the sort of collaborative project that can bring the art programs at AC and WT closer together.
“I’m also particularly grateful to be able to lean on the expertise of Jon Revett and the WT Mural Squad,” she said. “They’ve painted murals all over the Panhandle.”
Revett said the WT Mural Squad is very much looking forward to partnering with AC on the project.
“It will be a unique teaching opportunity as we pay homage to Amarillo culture on a 30- by 50-foot space,” Revett said. “We hope for good painting weather as well as other opportunities to partner with AC on future projects.”