By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Ever since Anna Popp was a young child, she loved drawing. When she
entered Great Bend High School she did not believe art could ever be a career.
“I eventually realized art was the only thing I enjoyed, as far as a job,” said
Popp. “I started to pursue it, and I’ve been really surprised at how many
opportunities I’ve had. It’s been cool seeing it go from a dream to a reality.”
Popp graduated from GBHS in 2021 and will be entering her second year at the
University of Kansas this fall where she is studying visual arts.
Popp received one of those opportunities to showcase her talents on a large
platform when she was asked to paint a mural in western Kansas.
“My aunt runs the youth center in Atwood, Kansas in Rawlins County,” said Popp.
“They’ve been looking for someone to paint a mural for the longest time. It’s
hard to get people to come out to those rural areas, so she contacted me.”
5ten Main, the youth center in Atwood, under the guidance of the Main St. Foundation, offered Popp an internship this summer. Main St. Foundation provides a place for junior and senior high school students to hang out, work on homework, and receive tutoring and specialized classes.
Popp’s internship
largely focused on painting a side of the foundation building that was
approximately 55 feet long and 12 feet tall.
“The mascot for the high school in Rawlins County is the buffalo,” said Popp. “With
the youth center for kids in middle school and high school, my aunt wanted the mural
centered on buffalo.”
With no design, Popp began the project in May.
“Buffaloes are really cool animals, but they’re boring brown colors,” said
Popp. “I ended up using highlights of yellows and oranges. I made the shadows
blues and purples. It made it super bright and fun.”
Anna enjoyed working with another artist on the mural. Atwood native Sophie
Ginther helped with the detail work of the project.
“It’s so different painting a mural,” said Popp. “With a paper, you can see the
whole picture in front of you, and it’s easy to see proportion. On the mural, I
was painting a buffalo nose that was as big as my face. There was a lot of
doing sketches, standing back and seeing proportions. It took a while in the
beginning getting the proportions right.”
Popp said growing up, painting a mural was a dream and was pleased she was able
to complete one this early in her life. Popp has now been asked by a few more
organizations in western Kansas to paint murals.
“This buffalo mural is probably my favorite piece of art I’ve done because I’ve
put the most time into this,” said Popp. “I feel like a small piece is cool,
especially if you can put a lot of detail into it. But there’s something about
seeing a huge piece of art in front of you…just takes your breath away.”
The Rawlins County mural is a nice addition to Anna’s portfolio and she plans to go
into her sophomore year at KU with open arms.
“I’m going to see what I get out of my classes,” added Popp. “I would love to
follow through with one of those mural opportunities next summer. We’ll just
see where life takes me.”
