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Elmira High School students may have noticed a new painting suddenly appear in the hallways following winter break. The art piece depicts six pelicans lined up on a log floating in water at Fern Ridge Reservoir.

The piece began production in Tom Edmundson’s advanced art class in early May 2024 by, at the time, sophomore Hannah Yaskovic, junior Lindsey Cordell and senior River Vandever, but the students were unable to finish before school let out.

Edmundson explained that the class wanted to paint something influenced by the local area.

“After looking through different photos, they went with a photo of pelicans standing side-by-side taken by my son at the Fern Ridge dam,” Edmundson told Falcon News.

When the new school year rolled around, Yaskovic got back into Edmundson’s advanced art class and was ready to finish the painting.

“I had started originally on the water, which I thought wouldn’t take long, but ended up becoming the most time-consuming part, especially with all the texturing,” the now-junior said. 

Yaskovic takes pride in her work, and she further bolstered that quality with her work on this painting.

“There is definitely room for improvement, but I’m pretty proud of it,” she told Falcon News, “especially with the time spent on it. The parts I worked on definitely made an improvement to the overall image.”

EHS students appreciate the new addition to the previously plain hallway.

“The more I look at it the more I notice,” senior Brooke Davis said. “The background is just as detailed as the pelicans.”

Junior Nya Smith said that the new painting inspires her.

“When I look at the painting it makes me inspired to paint for my school,” she told Falcon News. “The painting itself is pretty awesome, and every time I walk by it I can’t help but think we need more paintings like it around the school.”

Edmundson hopes to create more art installations for EHS.

“The goal is for us to make a big collaborative piece with my advanced art students to put up around the school sometime each school year,” Edmundson said.

Yaskovic couldn’t be more excited.

“I’d love to help create more pieces for the school,” Yaskovic said. “It brings personality to the empty hallways.”