Catonsville Middle School Students Work on Mural

As a muralist, Mark Selby is always looking for the next blank wall that will serve as his canvas.

A Catonsville native, Selby attended . Now, as a parent of one current CMS student, he had been eyeing an empty wall by the school's tennis and basketball courts as a spot for a mural.

After some conversations with Principal Michael Thorne and the school's art teacher, Selby was finally able to start working with the help of a group of students.

The mural's design reflects two important aspects of Catonsville life: music and the annual Fourth of July parade.

For the past two weeks, Selby has been working with the students to scrape, prime and paint the background of the mural. On Friday, he and the students started working on the details of the mural.

Art teacher Eric Volkmann said school staff had discussed putting a mural there for years and at one point had started a mosaic with ceramic tiles. The school's art program is known with working on murals that include ceramic tiles.

This is the first painted mural that students at the school have worked, Volkmann said, and so far they have been enjoying it.

Selby said at first some students felt the work was daunting as they worked to prep the wall. But now that they are working on painting, they are becoming more excited.

"I think they appreciate the work that's been done and what they're going to do," Selby said.