Undertaking large-scale creative projects is something Simpson College’s Vision and Invention classes have come to expect in recent years.

This time around, Dave Richmond, associate professor of art, has assigned his class to work on a 40 foot mural in the nearby town of Carlisle.

The opportunity arose when the principal of Carlisle Elementary School called and asked Richmond if his class would be interested in painting a mural on one of the school’s walls, according to Richmond. Richmond thought it would be a good idea, so he agreed to let his class do the project.

“This was a good chance for a class project and to work on a piece of art,” Richmond said. He encouraged his students to come up with their own ideas for the project. After seeing each other’s sketches and preliminary ideas, the class decided on a final idea.

Sophomore Jill Colbert said that the design incorporates the ideas of many.

“The final design has a little bit of everyone’s ideas in it,” Colbert said. “We already have a small-scale representation of it ready, and we will work together these next couple of weeks to do the actual painting.”

In the class of about 15 students, each has an important job to do for the work to get done by Midterm. Freshmen Mike Myers explained some of the steps the class will now take. “We did a preliminary color scheme and a group of us are going to paint the background for the mural. Then we will go from there.” Myers said.

According to Myers, the theme for the mural is ‘Imagine the Impossible’. “It includes historical figures and important architectural structures,” Myers said.

The class tried to gear the project towards the younger students in Carlisle.

“It also has fantasy ideas from books, yet it’s still closely related to educational themes,” Myers said.

Many of these same students took Vision and Invention I with Richmond this past fall, and also completed a large project, but in the form of a painted egg.

“Last semester it took a lot of group cooperation and we had to paint from a smaller scale to a larger scale,” Freshman Lindsay Smith said of the egg.

Myers said the class will use the cooperation skills they learned together last semester to take on this current endeavor.

The total amount of time allotted for this project is about three to four weeks, according to Smith. The class will work on the project primarily on Saturdays.