The walk into the Fox High School gym is more colorful now that a large mural has been painted on an exterior wall leading to its entrance.
Kenzie Wolk, an artist from Ste. Genevieve, painted the mural between June 3 and June 7.
It celebrates both the school and the city of Arnold.
“They wanted it filled with Fox pride and school spirit,” said Wolk, 39. “They wanted something that tied into the town as well as the school. I hope the school is able to enjoy it and it’s a fun, school-spirit thing for the students and faculty.”
Fox High School Principal Ryan Sherp said the school paid $7,000 for the mural, with the cost partially covered with discretionary funds set aside for the building and partly with the school’s annual repairs and maintenance funds, which had to be spent by the end of the 2023-2024 fiscal year on June 30.
“The revolving discretionary funds are made possible in part to the amazing fundraising efforts by Fox High School students and staff,” he said. “Fox High School students have focused a lot of attention on school beautification measures recently, so this project fits right in with their efforts. The response from the students and the community has been widely positive, and Kenzie did an amazing job on the project.”
Wolk used black, red and shades of gray on the mural, which is 75 feet long and 12 feet high.
The words “Welcome To Warrior Nation” are prominent on the wall, and it says “Fox High School Est. 1955” on a red ribbon featured on the mural.
The mural also includes nods to the school’s Native American mascot with two beaded-rosette adornments that frame the phrase “Welcome to Warrior Nation” and the outline of an arrowhead between two spears.
“There was a cultural line the school didn’t want to cross. They wanted to be responsible with the content,” Wolk said. “I went with the beaded-rosette adornments with feathers. Those are like a fine art thing. It was my way of doing a nod from one artist to another. I don’t think my painting did justice to that form of bead work. It is an intricate artwork that is so cool and fascinating.”
Wolk also painted a bridge spanning the Meramec River at the bottom and the Arnold Water Tower on the mural.
“I took artistic license to change the water tower to red,” she said. “It has different elements that fit the town and the school.”
She said school officials contacted her in February to paint the mural, and she worked with school officials on the design.
Wolk said she likes how the mural turned out and was happy to see a student use it as a backdrop for his senior pictures soon after the work was completed.
“Someone tagged me (on Facebook) with some senior pictures that were done with a football player, and it looked really good as a background for the student,” she said. “That was really cool to see.”
Wolk said she has done work throughout Jefferson County, the St. Louis area and in Cape Girardeau, and she is scheduled to paint murals in Collinsville, Ill.
In 2023, she completed murals at Schneider Park in downtown Festus and on the east wall at Hillsboro High School.
“I like to be able to put my art out in public,” she said. “I have done gallery artwork, and it doesn’t have the feel that I like. You have to draw people in to see your work. I like to take my work outside and in front of everybody. That way they can enjoy it without having to go to a gallery. That part of doing mural work is so fun for me because people are seeing it every day.”