A lost stranger walking along a Grady hallway might wonder where they were. Are they in a school? A prison? An office building? After wondering these questions, art teacher John Brandhorst was prompted to apply for grants to finance the decoration of the school.

“I guess we take it for granted, but when you stop a minute and look, you could be anywhere,” Brandhorst said.

In November, Brandhorst got word that the shoe company Vans was offering a $2,000 grant to promote the arts in schools. He quickly drafted a proposal, and sent it in just before the deadline. A few days later, he received an email congratulating him on winning the grant, which he plans to use to create a mural.

Vans is working with Americans for the Arts nonprofit organization whose goal is to “serve, advance, and lead the network of organizations and individuals who cultivate, promote, sustain, and support the arts in America,” according to its website.

“Vans is partnering with my organization, Americans for the Arts, because Vans really wants to promote art in schools as a way to cultivate everyone’s creativity,” said Kristen Engebretsen, arts education program manager for Americans for the Arts. She said they put out a select call to 10 cities across the country to gather submissions.

A panel of five evaluators made up of one Vans representative, one Americans for the Arts representative and three independent panelists judged the applications and chose 10 winners from the 30 or so proposals submitted.

“The panel felt that the student samples were really strong from Grady,” Engebretsen said. Brandhorst submitted pictures of the artwork outside of the library and a piece of art from former Grady student Perrin Turner.

The last time Grady did a project of this magnitude was right after the school’s renovation was finished in 2004, when the shields in the courtyard were painted and the collage near the library was created, Brandhorst said. Now that Grady has a grant to pay for the new mural, Brandhorst said the scope of the project will expand. The money will go towards supplies, and possibly to pay for professional artists’ assistance.

Brandhorst believes it is important to give students the opportunity to change their school for the better. “You guys move through the space,” he said. “You should be able to leave your mark in a way that’s permanent and beneficial.”

Student artists Alex Loomis and Nara Smith seem to agree with him.

“I want to add my own piece to Grady,” Smith said. “It’s just something I can do for the school, being involved in the arts program.”

Both she and Loomis were encouraged by Brandhorst to participate in the project.

“It’s something that he always said I would be good at, and so I thought it would be a really good idea to contribute to the school,” said Loomis, who hopes to be a leader in the design and implementation of the mural.

“I want this thing to be really good, so you know what they say: If you want something done right, you do it yourself,” said Loomis.

While both Smith and Loomis know they want to be involved, neither has a definite plan for the design yet.

“Mr. Brandhorst envisions it as reflecting street art trends, so I think we’re just going to play with that,” Smith said.

Loomis has considered possible locations and believes that the large space in front of the library would be a good place. She thinks the columns there would add a structural element to the piece that wouldn’t be possible somewhere else.

“Instead of just having it be a picture on a wall, it should be something that’s more dynamic than that,” Loomis said. She says she hasn’t yet figured out how to achieve this dynamism.

In order to move the project forward, Brandhorst hosted an interest meeting in the art room on Wednesday, Jan. 23 at 3:30 p.m. He hopes to have a core group that will control the production of the mural, and then a larger group composed of all other students who wish to be involved.

This isn’t the only partnership with Vans that Brandhorst has in mind. He also hopes to enter into another grant competition sponsored by Vans with a grand prize of $50,000. To win, a school must register to be sent four pairs of black canvas shoes, which they will decorate. The creators of the top five designs will be flown to New York, where the competiton winner will be announced. That grand prize winner, possibly from a Grady student, will then be put into production by Vans.