“Once I finally signed it, I felt relieved, because it was like the last four months had culminated to this moment where I could finish this piece that meant so much,” Bernice said. “It’s like closure for the past few generations of students who also worked on the mural. I’m really proud that it will be showcased on the side of the F building, since everyone who passes by, even from other schools, will get to see our passion for the arts.”
Chow has overseen the construction of the mural since the beginning of the project in 2018. In the 2024-2025 school year, Chow wanted to continue the project, so he offered his art students a chance to work on the mural.
“I had no problem doing it myself, and it would have been finished a lot sooner,” Chow said. “But this is not a Mr. Chow mural. I have a lot of pride in my classroom and the program we build. This mural is 100% student painted. Some of the other murals that were here before were teacher painted, and maybe students assisted somewhat, so the teacher was sitting on the left painting it. That’s not what this school is about. It’s about students. That takes a lot of effort to make that happen.”
Ashley first heard of the project second semester of her senior year from her sister Bernice, and decided to undertake the project because of her love for art. She was the first person to volunteer for the mural, followed by Bernice — who joined after Ashley joined — and Ma.
“I didn’t have as much time on my hands to take on art or prioritize art in my senior year, and that made me really sad because I’ve done art since second grade,” Ashley said. “At this point, I hadn’t done art in eight months, so I was really interested when Bernice proposed it to me. When Mr. Chow started showing me these inspiration pictures, I knew I wanted to take on this project.”
Ma later joined the project at the end of the school year because she hoped her work on the mural would leave a mark on the school. Ma also learned to collaborate with other artists when drawing.
“My art style and Bernice and Ashley’s art styles are similar, but also different,” Ma said. “Every time I paint something, they paint over it in their own art style, and then Mr. Chow would give us feedback. A big part of working on the mural was teamwork, because it is a really big mural, I can’t work on it alone, so having this collaboration was really fun because usually art is very individual.”
Prior to working on the mural, Bernice and Ashley had little experience with painting portraits. The artists gained a lot of experience in mixing and painting different skin tones. Ashley said this was initially difficult because they didn’t have a lot of experience in working with such a wide range of skin tones before. They expressed pride in not only the improvement of their art skills but also how the mural showcased the cultural diversity of MVHS.
“Some of the MVHS murals in the past didn’t really show much diversity,” Chow said. “We live in a very diverse part of the country, and a diverse area in California, and it’s a good thing to showcase that there’s lots of different people from lots of different parts of the world. The beauty of America is we have a lot of different people from different parts of the world, and we’re able to celebrate each other, honor each other and live in a harmonious way. That’s really kind of the promise of America, that we can do that right. Having a mural that reflects more of that, rather than something very monolithic, is like a mirror.”
