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January 22. 2010 9:08AM

A pair of lynx eyes will soon keep watch over fans in Brandon Valley’s new indoor activity center.

Chad Nelson, an art teacher at Brandon Valley High School, was commissioned by the Brandon Valley Athletic Boosters to paint three murals in the school’s new massive gymnasium.

“I’m excited and honored to be considered for this project,” said Nelson, who’s in his sixth year of teaching at Brandon Valley.

The murals are a gift to the school district from the Athletic Boosters. President Darin DeBoer said Booster Club members were eager to assist with putting the finishing touches on the new indoor activity center.

“These are the types of things we like to do,” DeBoer said. “It’s going to have a visual impact for anyone coming into that gym.”

Proceeds from the Booster’s March 26 Donkey Basketball event will be directed to the three-mural project.

Nelson began painting the first of three murals on Dec. 27 – mostly on Sundays – and said he has a goal of completing it by Jan. 31. Thus far, he’s put about 35 hours into the project.

“This place is used so much, it’s difficult to get in here and paint,” he said. “I need at least six hours to be productive.”

The eyes mural is Nelson’s own creation, an idea he said he developed in a single afternoon.

Nelson said the design began with a public domain photo of a lynx that was heavily manipulated by using two computer programs, Photoshop and Painter.

Nelson said he was inspired to tackle the project by Chuck Close, an artist known for his large-scale paintings.

“I have learned a great deal about large scale painting from studying and teaching about the artist Chuck Close,” Nelson said. Close is an American painter and photographer who achieved fame as a photorealist through his massive-scale portraits.

“He’s an excellent artist for kids to study, not only because he’s a paraplegic, but also because he has a learning disability and he’s a multi-millionaire. It just shows them that they don’t have to have everything to make something of their lives,” Nelson said.
In its finished state, the lynx eyes painting will be over six feet tall and 26 feet wide.
Nelson estimates he’ll devote at least 70 hours to this one mural alone. It is the first of three that will decorate the south walls in the indoor activity center. An identical mural will adorn the southeast wall, and a larger, yet to be designed mural, will be painted in the middle section of the south wall.

Positioned over 20 feet above the wooden gym floor, Nelson uses the school’s SkyJack as his perch to paint from.

“At times it’s really wobbly and when I’m up there, I’m constantly dealing with having to steady myself,” he said, “and I’ve kinda gotten a real sore back from it.”

Nelson is using just six different colors in this mural.

“I thought initially I’d just use these colors, but I’m not that kind of painter,” he said, referring to the six bottles of the gel-like substance he mixes to the consistency of buttermilk. “If you look close at the painting, there’s probably thousands of different colors because I mix them.”

Although Nelson is many hours away from the mural’s completion, he said he likes what he’s seeing thus far.

“I guess I’m a little bit pleasantly surprised how it’s turning out,” he said. “Most people view it at a distance, so they can’t see what I do.”

Brandon Valley taxpayer Dave Howard said he initially questioned what was being painted on the gym wall. “One whole game I couldn’t figure out what it was,” he said, “but it’s beautiful.”

Howard said the three murals will be a great addition to the new indoor activity center.
“This is such a beautiful facility and it’s nice to bring something unique into it. Just like the Corn Palace in Mitchell, this is unique as well.”

Like Howard, DeBoer is impressed with what he’s viewed so far.

“I like it. The last time I saw it, it only had half of the set of eyes. I’m amazed how someone can take a small scale drawing and blow it up 10 times, 20 times or larger,” he said.

The third mural that will be painted in the gym is yet to be designed. Nelson presented the Booster Club with some ideas, but said his ideas were met with some apprehension.

“I don’t think they liked them,” he said, “But I’m not worried about it. I’ll give my own creative ideas and the Boosters and administration will have a lot of input too.”
“Chad came up with some very artistic thoughts, but they may have been a little too artsy,” DeBoer said. “We need to find something that represents the school district and our athletes.”

The remaining two murals will be painted in June, Nelson said.
Nelson is elated that long after he is gone from Brandon Valley, his mark will be left on the gym walls for generations of Lynx fans to long admire and appreciate.

“This is pretty special for me,” he said. “I don’t go into the gym a lot, but my kids are going to graduate in this gym, and I think about that a lot when I’m painting.”