The painted sign that hangs outside the Augusta Schools received an update this weekend as the original artist replaced the sign, 42 years after she originally painted it as a student.
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In 1983, Karen Weikum Grubb was a high school senior at Augusta High School when she painted the sign that has hung outside the Augusta Schools for over 40 years.
Noticing wear and sun damage to the sign, she decided it was time for a replacement. Grubb says, “I really enjoyed seeing the old one, but as the years went along, I just wanted a new one. Now I'll have it up and I can look at this one, and my kids, when I'm gone, can hopefully look at it too.”
Grubb spent four months painting the new sign, which is based on a photograph her uncle, wildlife photographer Gus Wolfe, took of two bull elks.
Grubb explains, “He took it ‘round ‘76, he's had it for a long time. So I asked him, and he said ‘I'd be offended if you didn't use it!’ so, that set the stage and I painted two bull elk fighting in the mountains with his picture.”
Members of the community came out to the school Saturday morning for the unveiling of the new sign, which also received a brand new frame built by Grubb’s friends and family, making sure Grubb’s painting stands outside the Augusta Schools for another 40 years.
