Adam Johnson, art teacher at Roanoke Catholic School, recently unveiled his latest mural at Roanoke Catholic School. The piece, A Starry Night in Roanoke, sits at the entrance of the school and blends distinctive Roanoke landmarks into Vincent Van Gogh’s Post-Impressionist masterpiece, Starry Night.
The mural, which measures 20 feet wide by 8 feet tall, features the Basilica of St. Andrew in Roanoke, and Roanoke Catholic School on top of the hill. Down in the valley, there are recognizable icons of Roanoke, including the locomotive from the Virginia Museum of Transportation, the historic Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center, and the H&C Coffee sign.
Johnson expected the piece to take about two weeks but ended up working on it for about a month.
“It turned into something bigger than I expected,” he said. “The deeper I got into the project, the more I wanted to add. It was a labor of love – a way to spotlight a place that is meaningful to me and a lot of others throughout the school community.”
Johnson is a second-year art teacher at Roanoke Catholic. This large mural was inspired by the smaller version of the mural he created for a bulletin board in his classroom last year.
“It was the first thing the kids’ eyes caught when they came into the room,” said Johnson. “I put a lot of love and effort into it. I knew the kids were going to love it.”
Johnson is a graduate of the Virginia Commonwealth University art program and specializes in portrait illustration.
For more information about Roanoke Catholic School, visit www.roanokecatholic.org.
About Roanoke Catholic School
Established in 1889, Roanoke Catholic is a regional Catholic school under the auspices of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, Office of Catholic Schools. A co-educational, college preparatory school located in Roanoke, Virginia, the student body is composed of young men and women from varied socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds who reflect the diversity of the greater Roanoke Valley.
