T-L Photo/SHELLEY HANSON Shown here is the Bridgeport High School art students' photography mural on the side of Attic Pickers in the downtown.

BRIDGEPORT — A giant mural made up of Bridgeport High School art students’ photographs now adorns the Lincoln Avenue side of the Attic Pickers shop in downtown Bridgeport.

It was installed by art teacher Mindy Sears and Wheeling-based photographer Rebecca Kiger as part of the Rural Arts Collaborative project.

“Today was the day that we dreamed about for a really long time. Rebecca Kiger and I spent pretty much the entire day applying these photos to the side of the Attic Pickers (the old Moore’s Music Emporium building) building in Bridgeport. Thank you for everything you have done for us Rebecca Kiger. We couldn’t have done this without you,” Sears said in a Facebook post about the project.

Sears noted the giant mural was the “capstone project” of the students’ participation in the collaborative.

“Thank you to everyone who helped bring such a cool project to the students of Bridgeport, like the Stifel Fine Arts Center, and Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation. The students loved it. It was fun to see them drive past and waved happily as we applied the mural. We are truly grateful for this experience and will remember for a lifetime,” Sears wrote.

Sears said the project’s theme was for students to express that they were more than just a standardized test score.

Students who participated in the program included: Fayth Kendricks, Danielle Duff, Kaden Otte, Camero Brado, Brayden Green, Izaac Jozwiak, Kayla Nowakowski, D.T. Throckmorton, Kaitlyn Witzberger, Kiersten Barsch, Hannah Coffield, Breyona Hall, Riley Kenny, Kyle Kerns, Jayden Ray, Rebecca Svoboda, Dylan Williams, DaVonte “Vonnie” Smith, Dylan Zamski, Taylor Duncan, Callie Cika, Kalee Cross and Destiny Harris.

“Rebecca came to my classroom at least once a week, sometimes more. She helped the students learn how to use DSLR Canon cameras. She taught them about photo composition, and lighting, and introduced them to many new photographers. They learned so much during this time with her,” Sears wrote.

“The students took these pictures. And the theme of the mural is, we are more than a number. State testing can place a number on student performance in school, but that doesn’t tell you everything about the student.”

Sears on Tuesday said trying to teach art during the pandemic has been difficult, but the students have stepped up to the plate.

“They’ve done some great things. It’s a real shame it ended. I’ve cried about it honestly. We were onto something amazing. … They will definitely have a story to tell,” she said. “They were inspired this year and it was great to see. I can’t wait to see where it goes.”

Kiger on Thursday said her previous artist-in-residence assignment with the collaborative was at Bellaire High School last school year. She noted she was surprised by how different Bridgeport was from Bellaire even though the communities are near each other.

“I think because it’s a small insulated community, it had a family feel to it,” Kiger said of Bridgeport. “I also had younger students this year; maybe there was more innocence with the younger kids. I had four seniors.”

Once schools closed because COVID-19, Kiger said it became difficult getting together electronically with the students. And some didn’t have their cameras. But after looking through the photos they had taken of each other for an earlier assignment, Kiger decided there were enough good portraits to make the mural work.

Kiger said at the suggestion of a colleague she was going to use a special glue to make the large photos stick to the building. The company she needed to purchase it from, however, was located in California and was closed because of COVID. The alternative was a wallpaper glue. She hopes it will hold up for a few months at least.

The black and white photos were printed by Rich & Shirley’s Quick Print on 80-pound plain paper.