Compass High School!

I used an exclamation point on the title because the murals here are overpowering: big, bright, and almost everywhere. This charter school looks to be preparing its students for a career — including one in art. You can see a list of school businesses in the sign at the left. (As always, you can click on the photo for a larger view.)

A lot of these murals are not painted on; they're "wraps," applied with what looks like a printed film of some sort by s student business at the school. But there's plenty of paint, too.

We showed one of the murals here a year ago in Flaming mural on 22nd. That's at the west end of campus, at the school's auto shop. Around the corner is the entrance to the shop, with cars painted on the doors:



(I took the second photo on April 8th.) That name GatorEyez comes from the school team name, the Compass High School (Navi)Gators. (“Compass navigators”... get it? It took me a little while.)


On the right side of that building, next to the auto shop, is a mural with five scenes from the school:



I'm not sure that the middle of the five photos is actually from 2012. A staff member told me that the photo shows the student who painted the huge mural on back of the school; he's standing on the lift that he used to reach the top of the wall. The mural has been there for a while — long enough to be covered by a couple of storage sheds (there was nowhere else to put the sheds, the staff member told me). Here are shots from three angles:



(While you're waiting in line for the Arizona emissions testing facility, look to your left to see that mural.)

On my first visit, January 10th, there was a mural in the outside hallway in front of the art studio. This mural was gone when I came back on April 8th:


Last, here are the “wraps” on the buildings around the northeast-side parking lot:





Quite a place, isn't it? Here's a map.