Otero Art Students Earn 2nd Place in the La Junta Tarantula Fest Downtown Window Decorating Contest

Anna Matejcek, Otero Visual Art Faculty, and members of her Painting I class joined forces to create a 6×8 community mural of a tarantula as part of the inaugural Tarantula Fest in La Junta last weekend. The mural is located at 209 Colorado Ave. in La Junta.

Chelsea Herasingh, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs at Otero, brought the information about the window/storefront decorating competition to Matejcek, who then brought the concept to her Painting I class to discuss the idea. They were excited to participate in the project. Herasingh contacted a friend, Yak & Yeti owner Dol Bhattarai, who recently purchased the building at 209 Colorado and asked about using his storefront for the location. He graciously allowed the group to utilize his space.

Painting I class members, Talissa Carruba, Nick DeLeon, Isaiah Gamez, Ash Hunt, Gentry Martin, Trevor Niccoli, Christina Oakley, Jacelyn Olivieri, Manuela Pacheco Martinez, and Bruce Anderson all created pieces that came together to create one whole image. 2D Design students, Nichole Willhoite and Andie Duran, also helped with detail work.

Matejcek revealed that they started with a discussion about what they would like to do and looked up images of tarantulas online for inspiration. The class voted on the pose of the tarantula as well as the background details and the color ranges to use. They decided that they wanted the colors to reflect reality, but not be strictly naturalistic. They also decided that they wanted there to be variation within the pieces of the mural so that everyone could contribute to the mural in a way that reflected their personality and style.

The class used a variety of painting materials and a few drawing materials to create this masterpiece. The background is watercolor paper, and they painted with watercolor and acrylic paints, and in some cases drew in details with colored pencils and paint markers. Christina Oakley also created the tarantula sculpture that is displayed on the other side of the storefront. She used paper mache, crocheted fibers, latex, and acrylic paint to create the larger-than-life arachnid.

Their efforts did not go unnoticed by the judges. They earned a 2nd place award for their piece.

Even though it was created on a tight schedule, Matejcek is very happy with how the project turned out. She shared, “We wanted the finished mural to be a patchwork of our individual artistic approaches while also feeling like it showed our connection and cooperation during the process. I feel like we succeeded! We all started out working on individual pieces and by the end, we were all painting and drawing on each other’s to help each other complete those finishing touches. It was truly an exercise in teamwork and collaboration. It was an enjoyable and challenging project and a great learning experience for us all!”

For questions about the mural or the Otero Art Program, Matejcek can be reached at 719-384-6866 or at anna.matejcek@otero.edu.