Student artists at Santa Maria High School (SMHS) have officially left their permanent mark on campus. In a hands-on collaboration, 28 students from the SMHS Art 2 class have completed a large-scale mural inside the school stadium.
The installation was designed and painted alongside internationally recognized abstract installation artist Allison Kunath and her creative team.
Spanning 60 feet by 9 feet (about 540 square feet), the mural serves as a visual bridge between the campus, local alumni, and the broader Santa Maria community.
The artwork incorporates sports icons and academic symbols, intentionally representing the diverse array of sports, hobbies, and academic paths pursued by the SMHS student body.
Anchoring the entire piece is the school’s unifying motto: “Once a Saint, Always a Saint.”
The project kicked off a few weeks ago when Art 2 students began conceptualizing and designing individual icons to represent their school experience.
Kunath then digitized the student designs, weaving them together with core SMHS elements, including the text and the school’s mascot, Sammy the Saint.
The physical transformation of the stadium wall took place over an intensive, multi-day energetic push:
• Wednesday morning: Kunath and her team arrived early to prime the massive wall. Using cutting-edge virtual reality (VR) headsets, they mapped out and drew the sweeping outlines of the background.
• Mid-week production: Students stepped up with paint rollers to fill in the large, bold sections of the background.
• Icon placement: The artistic team utilized stencils, chalk, and a traditional pounce pattern to precisely transfer the students’ custom sports and academic icons onto the wall.
• Final touches: Every student in the Art 2 class grabbed small detail brushes to hand-paint the intricate icons, before the final lettering and Sammy the Saint were added to complete the masterpiece.
To celebrate their hard work and collective achievement, the student painters were treated to a well-earned pizza and donut party on Friday afternoon as the final brushstrokes dried.
For the graduating seniors involved, the project provided a rare opportunity to work on a commercial-grade public art installation before heading into the world, said Chelsea Greene, SMHS visual arts teacher.
“I enjoyed the design process and working with my classmates,” said Bianca Jimenez, a 12th-grader who participated in the project. “I designed the pom-pon because some people forget that cheer is also part of sports, and I liked how it was a collaboration between us all. I learned a lot from Allison.”
Abstract installation artist Kunath is a licensed C-33 painting contractor. She has contributed to more than 175 projects, including murals covering over 40,000 square feet of private and public spaces across six countries.
With some 15 years of experience in art, design, and project management, her portfolio includes commissions for the cities of Los Angeles, and Palo Alto, and UC Irvine, alongside global brands like Starbucks, Lululemon, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, and SoFi.
Her work has been featured in Architectural Digest, NBC, Cosmopolitan, The Cut, and Oprah Daily.