Santana High School // Santee

<< Back to Completed Murals

Santana High School Collaborative Mural Project

Mural Artist: Santana High School Advanced Art Class
May 2026

1_full
2_main_angled_left
3_main_straight
4_main1
5_main_angled_right
6_full_angled
7_detail1
8_detail2
9_detail3
10_detail4_angled
11_detail4
12_students_day1
13_students_painting2
14_students_lastday
15_student2
16_student1
17_students_with_art
18_student_speech
19_ribbon_cutting
20_full_poles
1_full 2_main_angled_left 3_main_straight 4_main1 5_main_angled_right 6_full_angled 7_detail1 8_detail2 9_detail3 10_detail4_angled 11_detail4 12_students_day1 13_students_painting2 14_students_lastday 15_student2 16_student1 17_students_with_art 18_student_speech 19_ribbon_cutting 20_full_poles

ArtReach partnered with Santana High School to lead a student-driven mural project that celebrates school pride, creativity, and community identity. Through the course of 12 mural arts education workshops, ArtReach guided a group of 15 art students through every stage of the mural-making process, including concept development, drawing, composition, paper-cut collage techniques, mural design, and painting.

Working alongside ArtReach, participants developed a welcoming and visually mature mural concept that reflects both the culture of Santana High School and the surrounding region. Each individual created an original paper-cut out collage inspired by local nature, campus life, academics, extracurricular activities, and personal experiences. ArtReach then supported the process of weaving these individual pieces into a unified mural composition, ensuring every contribution became an integral part of the final design.

Created in a graphic paper-cut style, the mural features a palette of purple and gold accented by calming teal tones, reinforcing school pride while ensuring a vibrant yet balanced visual experience. The imagery is organized to reflect the passage of time across a school day and school year, moving from morning to midday to night. This progression symbolizes the student journey, beginning with sunrise and early-day energy, transitioning through the focus and momentum of midday, and concluding with evening and nighttime imagery that represents reflection, completion, and the closing of a chapter.

The mural highlights subjects that are either native to the local landscape or directly connected to life at Santana, creating a piece that is both meaningful and distinctly representative of the school community.

Beyond transforming a popular campus gathering space, the project offered hands-on experience in collaborative mural-making and left behind a lasting visual legacy centered in shared creativity and collective expression.

Special thanks to the Ruth & Joseph C. Reed Foundation and the Langston Family Foundation for helping make this project possible.