{"id":5876,"date":"2015-03-16T23:09:42","date_gmt":"2015-03-17T05:09:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=5876"},"modified":"2015-03-16T23:09:42","modified_gmt":"2015-03-17T05:09:42","slug":"hundreds-view-senior-highs-history-rich-murals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2015\/03\/hundreds-view-senior-highs-history-rich-murals\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds view Senior High&#8217;s history-rich murals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t<div id=\"slides-5876\" class=\"navis-slideshow\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slide-nav\">\n\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"prev\"><\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"next\"><\/a>\n\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slides_container\"><div id=\"5876-slide1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mural-Elaine-House-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mural-Elaine-House-1-of-1-771x505.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Elaine House cranes her neck to look up at a mural during an open house at Billings Senior High School on Monday. To her right is her husband, Gene, a 1957 graduate of Senior. In the background is Assistant Principal Jeff  Uhren.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"5876-slide2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mural-Les-Hein-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mural-Les-Hein-1-of-1-771x514.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Retired art teacher Les Hein stands near Bruce Ryniker's mural of speeding race cars.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"5876-slide3\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mural-Dirk-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mural-Dirk-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Artist Dirk Lee checks out his '60s-era mural in a stairwell at Senior High.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"5876-slide4\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mural-Rynicki-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mural-Rynicki-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Muralist Bruce Ryniker shows the poster he drew for the Class of 1958's 40th reunion in 1998.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"5876-slide5\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mural-Hannah-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mural-Hannah-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Hannah Lose, a senior at Senior High, has been working with Save Our Murals as part of her honors program Platinum Project. Behind her is Kris Korfanta's \"Dream the Impossible Dream,\" a mural depicting Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"5876-slide6\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mural-quartet-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mural-quartet-1-of-1-771x514.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>A Senior High string quartet performs during the open house.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><script>jQuery( document ).ready( function() { loadSlideshow( 5876, 'https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2015\/03\/hundreds-view-senior-highs-history-rich-murals\/', 6 ) } );<\/script>\n<p>If you see a lot of people in Billings rubbing sore necks on Tuesday, it might have something to do with the \u201cSave Our Murals\u201d open house at Billings Senior High School Monday night.<\/p>\n<p>Hundreds of people turned out to gawk up at murals painted by generations of Senior High students, to donate money toward their restoration and preservation and to put in orders for a book on the murals, planned for publication next fall.<!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5883\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 140px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-5883 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mural-Korfanta-1-of-1.jpg\" alt=\"Kris\" width=\"140\" height=\"210\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kris Korfanta<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Some of the more than 100 muralists were on hand Monday, to talk about the artworks that adorn walls, stairwells and so many nooks and crannies of the three-story building that murals are still being discovered.<\/p>\n<p>Kris Korfanta, a 1975 graduate who lives in Sheridan, Wyo., hadn\u2019t seen her painting of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in more than 30 years, and she was pleased to realize that \u201cit doesn\u2019t look too bad.\u201d Given a chance, though, she wouldn\u2019t mind coming back to work on Panza\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt still bugs me,\u201d she said. \u201cHis hands need fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Les Hein, an art teacher at Senior from 1966 to 1983, taught art to a few of the muralists over the years, and he had a chance to create his own mural when attended Senior High in the 1940s.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was supposed to paint one, but I never got around to it,\u201d he said. \u201cI ran out of time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kristeen Keup, an organizer of the Save Our Murals effort and of the open house, was impressed by the hundreds of visitors, and by the number of people making donations and ordering books.<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"well\"><div class=\"dfad dfad_pos_1 dfad_first\" id=\"_ad_652\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/mjhWkW\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/201703_capeair_variable.jpg\" alt=\"CapreAir_Variable\" width=\"510\" height=\"180\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18069\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>Keup, a Senior High graduate and retired Senior High teacher, said there are so many murals scattered throughout the high school that even in the past week they discovered some that were painted by unknown artists. Some of that missing information was supplied by visitors Monday, but there are still gaps in their knowledge of the murals.<\/p>\n<p>One big mystery, Keup said, is the location of a mural painted by John Dahl, now a Hollywood director whose recent credits include episodes of \u201cBreaking Bad\u201d and \u201cHouse of Cards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His mural apparently was covered up by a display case, Keup said, but nobody has reached him yet to ask where it was. She did meet someone Monday who knows Dahl\u2019s mother and hopes to get a message through to Dahl, Keup said.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no mystery about Bruce Ryniker\u2019s mural. It is very large, very bright and prominently displayed on the first floor. It shows race cars roaring around a tight corner.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5884\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignright\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-5884 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mural-Uecker-1-of-1.jpg\" alt=\"Uecker\" width=\"336\" height=\"504\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">It wasn&#8217;t just artwork attracting gawkers. Stacey Uecker put his daughter Eliana on his shoulders so she could look at his 1996 state championship basketball team photo.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>By the time he was in high school, Ryniker had already been drawing cars for years, and he went on to a career as a designer for General Motors, Chrysler and even the toymaker Mattel, where he created Hot Wheels cars. He and his wife, Marilee, who met at Senior in their senior year, 1958, moved back to Billings 10 years ago after Bruce retired.<\/p>\n<p>He credits Senior High art teacher Earl Bailey with pushing him in the right direction. While other students in Bailey\u2019s class were working on posters for school events, Ryniker said, \u201cI sat in the back and drew pictures of cars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One day Bailey came back and stood over Ryniker, but not to scold him. He threw a catalog for the Art Center School in Los Angeles on Ryniker\u2019s desk and told him it was a place \u201cwhere they actually encourage you to draw pictures of cars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Remarkably, Ryniker said, at one time there were six Senior High graduates from the 1950s and 1960s designing cars for the major automakers. But Marilee said that shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of encouragement of young people\u2019s art here, and it really showed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you see a lot of people in Billings rubbing sore necks on Tuesday, it might have something to do with the \u201cSave Our Murals\u201d open house at Billings Senior High School Monday night. Hundreds of people turned out to gawk up at murals painted by generations of Senior High students, to donate money toward [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,17],"tags":[2077,741,1244,2227,1671,1239,2226],"class_list":["post-5876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-billings","category-culture","tag-save-our-murals","tag-billings-senior-high","tag-bruce-ryniker","tag-dirk-lee","tag-hannah-lose","tag-kristeen-keup","tag-les-hein","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}