A last-minute cancellation has allowed local high school students to put the finishing touches on Kenai Art Center’s group mural project.

Anna Widman, an art teacher at Kenai Alternative School, said her kids were asked on Monday to finish the mural, giving them a limited time to implement their concept.

“This has all been thrown together by my last-hour class,” she said after the students headed back to school for the rest of their classes Tuesday afternoon.

The art center’s latest exhibition is a group mural project, featuring 18 artists. The Kenai Art Center has hosted an open call-style mural project in the past, but has had to press pause because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Widman said the piece by her students is inspired by a poem about a wolf that one of her students wrote, and will incorporate the words alongside the animal on the canvas.

“We kind of consider ourselves a community school and a neighborhood school, and we just wanted to be able to highlight that in the mural,” she said.

Most of the students have experience with different forms of art, Widman said, but many of them haven’t done something of this caliber. Facing a tight deadline, the students have risen to the challenge, she said.

“(It’s) a little bit of an adventure for some of them, because they’re not always used to working collaboratively, and especially not on this scale,” Widman said.

She said her students have impressed her with the undertaking, especially the poetic portion of the installation. One student in particular, Widman said, is a talented writer. The piece will have the poem interspersed throughout the group’s section.

Widman also has painted a mural on her own section of canvas.

The piece depicts three colorful, lively goats walking along the beaches of a tropical island and chomping on yellow flowers.

The mural will be open to the public starting at noon on Wednesday at the Kenai Art Center, and will be on display through the end of the year.

The mural project opening reception will be Thursday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Refreshments will be served.

Reach reporter Camille Botello at camille.botello@peninsulaclarion.com.

Anna Widman’s piece hangs on the wall for the Kenai Art Center’s mural project on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. (Camille Botell/Peninsula Clarion)

Jacob Bayhi paints a podium for the Kenai Alternative High School’s mural installation at the Kenai Art Center on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

Tatihana DeHoyos cuts out the centerpiece stencil for the Kenai Alternative High School’s mural installation at the Kenai Art Center on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)