Katarina McIntosh, a freshman at Allen County Community College, is studying performing and visual arts — a natural since she’s been drawing “as long as I can remember.”
“When I was little, my grandmother would give me something to draw on and I’d scribble away,” Katarina said Thursday afternoon.
She doesn’t scribble anymore.
Two of her latest works, murals on walls of counseling offices at Lincoln and McKinley elementary schools, demonstrate her talent. She got the opportunity to do the murals because her mother, Judy McIntosh, is in her second year as counselor at the two schools and mentioned earlier this summer that a little color would brighten the offices.
They’re drab no more.
Katarina painted a jungle scene, complete with hanging stuffed monkeys, at Lincoln, and a stage on the wall at McKinley with Buzz Lightyear and his “Toy Story” buddy, Woody, ready to perform.
In her first year of post-secondary education, Katarina hasn’t charted a definite career path, though she hopes it is centered on art.
The two examples she did this summer give more than cursory indication she has a future in the discipline.
JUDY MCINTOSH said the murals have added an ambiance that she thinks will encourage young students to relax and help make their time in her offices more pleasant.
At McKinley she likes to click off overhead lighting in favor of softer illumination from table and floor lamps and has found that students respond well to soft music playing in the background.
The atmosphere at Lincoln easily is transformed as well, with soft lighting and an overstuffed couch that is a pleasant resting place.
