Temporary mural at Decorah High School honors the late "JD" Dean

Decorah High School Art Club students have honored the memory of the late Decorah HS drum line instructor Jerry "JD" Dean by creating a temporary mural on a brick wall of the exterior of the school.

The students brainstormed the idea for the memorial temporary mural. "I wanted to give students the opportunity to add more color to the courtyard walls that I walked by every morning, and students came up with idea to use JD as the subject," said Decorah High School art teacher Erik Dutcher, who supervises the Art Club. 

After creating a pixelated photo of JD, students used sidewalk chalk and began to create the portrait using a gridded pattern. Dutcher added, "It has the appearance of old school 8-bit video games. Lots of pixels put together to form a picture."

"Dedicating something to a man who inspired so many people was an amazing way to commemorate his time and effort given to the Decorah schools," said Art Club President Maggie Schwarz.  "Each minute of time used to collaborate on this piece was spent remembering a wonderful, inspiring mentor, and having fun at the same time.  We are so grateful for all that JD did for us."