Throughout the vast hallways of Tenafly High School, colorful and vivid murals on the walls may have caught your eye. Creative and unique to THS, these student-produced murals add coats of flair to otherwise bleak walls. This week, the Bob Ross Club finished THS’ newest colorful creation, a mural of the Tenafly Nature Center in the signature Bob Ross painting style.
Once a month, the Bob Ross Club meets after school, where anyone is welcome to attend and paint. Together, the club members watch a Bob Ross video tutorial and paint on their individual mini canvases. The mural, however, was on a larger scale and a team effort. “It felt true to Ross’s intentions to leave a positive mark on the school walls and remind passing students of not only the beauty of nature, but the importance of genuine joy throughout our high school careers,” Lunette Shaw (’25), Vice President of the Bob Ross Club, said.
Getting the mural idea approved was the first step the Bobbers (the nickname that Bob Ross Club members dubbed themselves) had to tackle. After getting approval from their club advisor, Ms. Griffin, the Bobbers had to attend a meeting with Principal Morrison regarding the content of the mural and future procedures.
The Bobbers wanted to choose a Bob Ross tutorial that resembled the beloved Tenafly Nature Center, so they ended up following Ross’s “Whispering Stream.”
“In terms of preparation, we posted the tutorial link in Google Classroom so that the club members could skim through the video to get a sense of what we’d be painting,” Kate Situ (’25), Co-President of the club, added.
“The overall layout of the design was simple because we had Bob Ross’s tutorial to guide us (which we mostly followed, but took a few creative liberties with) and a few reference photos of the Tenafly Nature Center,” Shaw explained. The club officers decided on a quote together, Bob Ross’s famous quote: “You can do anything here—the only prerequisite is that it makes you happy,” and had it approved by Griffin and Morrison.
“From there, forms were to be filled out, paints had to be bought, and we encountered a few scheduling issues with the upstairs hallway’s new ceiling light renovations, so the actual painting part of the mural ended up occurring a few months after we originally came up with the idea,” Shaw explained. Once everything was approved and dates were set, the Bobbers got to work.
The mural painting was divided into two days, one day for all club members and one day exclusively for the club officers since the lettering of the quote and finishing touches required fewer hands on deck. “All paints were purchased by Ms. Griffin, and we brought brushes from our own houses, which ended up working really well. Our officers, of course, brought snacks to enjoy while painting (as they are always in ready abundance during our meetings) and made a little playlist for everyone to listen to!” Shaw added. Rather than signing their names, the Bob Ross Club wrote in Bob Ross’s hallmark red font to tag their painting.
To their surprise, the club made more progress on the first day than anticipated, the mural taking a total of around five hours to be completed between both days. “We played the Bob Ross video on a computer and skipped through it to understand the general idea of what he was doing. Separate tasks were assigned to different students, such as one person focusing on the trees while one person started on the stream so that we could maximize our time,” Shaw explained.
“The whole experience was a lot of fun,” Shaw said, beaming. The officers are incredibly grateful for those who assisted in the process and painting of the mural. If you find yourself in the upstairs history wing, take a second to absorb the outdoorsy painting. “We hope it brings a smile to students’ and staff’s school days!”
