Two local artists lift school spirit with colorful murals

An image of Vikings who make a grand arrival has splashed up on a gym wall at Coeur d’Alene High School, giving homage to the site’s mascot.

Two local commercial artists painted the giant mural in June after a group of students helped select its design.

Since April, Scott Lakey and Jeremy Deming of ArtCoLab have had the space to create different murals at a few North Idaho schools after the sudden shutdown of the facilities due to the novel coronavirus.

Offering a discounted rate to schools for the contract work, Lakey said they also hope the murals will help boost student spirit as they look forward to a return.

“It’s been positive, and it’s usually a big transformation for a school,” he said. “Many of these schools are older, and this helps to bring back some school spirit. You can do a lot with paint.

“Kids have been a big part of every mural we’ve done, either approving it or helping fund it.”

In his career, Lakey has done artwork featured in national touring music acts and used by rock moguls such as guitarist Slash from Guns N’ Roses, and he’s done illustrations for album covers, including for Stone Temple Pilots. Splitting time between Coeur d’Alene and Pismo Beach, California, he also has created illustrations used in marketing, publishing and for images appearing on skateboards and snowboards.

Deming, with Coeur d’Alene High as his alma mater, works in the region as a commercial artist and graphic designer. He has created numerous business logos, illustrations and murals.

In April, the artists paired up at Dalton Elementary School to paint a colorful dragon image and a numbers grid for an outdoor wall.

“We did a similar thing for Bryan Elementary for one side of an outdoor wall about three years ago, and we just did the other side this summer two or three weeks ago,” said Lakey, who graduated in 1998 from Lake City High School.

“We did a mural for Post Falls Middle School a couple of months ago, and that was when COVID first hit.”

They use a projector to outline the designed images for the large walls, and then apply professional-quality spray paints. The artists recently did additional mural work at Lake City High after completing earlier murals in recent years.

Their next job is in Clark Fork, Idaho, to paint a mural for the community’s combined junior and senior high school. That image will give tribute to the founding of the town. The school’s mascot, a mythical creature like a mountain lion called Wampus Cat, will overlook a scene with the community’s history, including images of farming, timber and Native Americans.

ArtCoLab recently launched a website, schoolmuralproject.com, to get information about projects, see examples and learn about the mural process. Some buzz about the recent school murals has spread in the community, Lakey said.

Deming said that for Coeur d’Alene High, he drew up four or five variations of a design, and a group of students had input on the final image.

It fills the entire span of the gym wall’s space and depicts Vikings who are arriving on a ship as it makes waves near shore, while other Vikings across the span stand on land with the school’s CHS flag flying high.

“We’re both commercial artists and graphic designers, so Scott and I collaborate on these mural projects together,” Deming said. “These murals take a couple of bodies at least. We use lifts and ladders.”

He and Lakey also credited the school’s principal, Libbi Barrett, for backing the project and finding community support.

About two years ago, the artists also painted murals for the school cafeteria and gym at Lakes Middle School. The cafeteria at Lakes brings in inspiring quotes on the walls along with art images of famous people.

Previously, they completed school murals in Wallace, Moscow and St. Maries.

In 2018, Lakey and Deming painted an image using some glow-in-the-dark paints for the Timberwolves’ gym at Lake City High. After a LED light shines for a while on the image, the paint is designed to absorb that light. It creates a dramatic scene when all the gym lights are temporarily shut off to highlight the glowing stars in the night sky with wolves and tall pine trees, Lakey said.

The newer Vikings image for CHS has drama and motion, too, almost as if the tall ship is about to crash into the shore.

“I’m hoping this gives students an extra boost,” Lakey added. “With the uncertainties coming up this next year – like will there be distance learning, in-person learning or day-night school and that they haven’t been allowed back in school – this is kind of something for them to look forward to with all this craziness going on.”