By Joseph Goral
Staff Writer
jgoral@mihomepaper.com
OXFORD TWP. — Clear Lake Elementary students and teachers will see two new murals when they return to school in August.
One mural recognizes teacher of the year winners, while another larger mural will brighten up the school’s cafeteria, according to parent teacher organization member Courtney Bloomgren. Framed photos of the winners, along with name plaques, will go with the mural to honor the 10 most recent years worth of teachers of the year.
“We wanted for several years for new people that come into school, current students, teachers, parents, to know that’s a big honor and they deserve to be shown with that honor,” Bloomgren said. “And especially with Nick’s artwork, that wall will say that.”
Clear Lake’s murals are artist Nick Hottmann’s most recent in Oxford. Hottmann, a 2001 graduate of Oxford High School currently living in Idaho, has painted several murals in multiple locations around town, including Washington Square, the alleyway between Creative Embroidery and Modern Marketplace, inside Oxford Bike Shoppe and more.
“It’s just super cool that you have three Oxford alums working all these years later together,” PTO member Lisa Terry said.
Hottmann began painting murals in Oxford in 2022 to give back to the community.
“I think that teachers are very unappreciated because the reality is, is every single human being that’s in the United States has had to have a teacher at some point in their life,” Hottmann said. “Not every single person has to have a professor in college, not every person has to learn how to change an alternator, but every kid has had some sort of a teacher.”
Hottmann began the cafeteria’s mural on July 10. Terry said the goal for this mural is to make kids excited when they return for their first day of school. The painting will feature an outline of Michigan with a star in Oxford’s location, a Wildcat, and more, according to Bloomgren.
The painting will bring an entirely different energy to the cafeteria, that it will be bright, vibrant and offer a wall to take pictures in front of, Hottmann said.
“To me, it shows we’re progressing forward as a school district,” Hottmann said.
Clear Lake Elementary’s first day of school is Aug. 22.