Art students re-create classic billboard

by Mescalero Apache Tribe | February 7, 2018 4:19 pm

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Mescalero, NM

One of the well known billboards that greet visitors along the highway was recently covered with a new vinyl sign. Our high school students in Ms. Lane’s art class collaborated to redesign the classic billboard at the bottom of route 6.

The widely known billboard went through some major wear and tear resulting in the paint fading and tearing. One could say that the sign has been up for longer than 45 years; since the 70’s!

From that time, the billboard was repainted and covered with other vinyl signs. Ms. Lane and the students expect their sign to be up a lot longer.

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When asked about having his art work on the recreated billboard, Nana Chee said, “It feels good.” He feels the sign will be up longer since the material is more durable to weather conditions.

When creating the billboard, the art students didn’t want to veer far from the original painting. The mountain, moon, crown dancer, and text are still apart of billboard but in a different format.

Mrs. Lane explained, “The students had to be introduced to the digital Photoshop realm dealing with computers, some students have never practiced digital formats such as the Adobe application.”

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The mountains were Photo-shopped and added to an evening sky backdrop. The crown dancers were hand drawn by Nana Chee and digitally added in front of the mountains. The text, which is almost identical to the original billboard, was also digitally added. The moon and star were carefully discussed and designed according to Native tradition.
Ms. Lane plans to further the students’ knowledge in digital formatting with some help from new computers she hopes to obtain in her art classroom. Superintendant Charlie Sevedra also added that the art students will later cover the other remaining billboards located near the sawmill, Casino Apache Travel Center and on highway 244 near Cloudcroft.

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Endnotes:
  1. [Image]: http://mescaleroapachetribe.com/wp-content/uploads/IMG_0001-5.jpg
  2. [Image]: http://mescaleroapachetribe.com/wp-content/uploads/IMG_0042-3.jpg

Source URL: https://mescaleroapachetribe.com/7694/art-students-re-create-classic-billboard/