Inspiring Bible verses with bold, colorful illustrations are now decorating the bathroom stall doors in the second floor girls’ bathroom. ACS alumnus Dara Brown Heston (’11) painted the verses and artwork on the doors over the Christmas break. “It was great to come back to ACS and do something that would encourage the students,” Dara said. “The verses were specifically chosen to encourage a woman to be strong and confident in the Lord.” 12th grader Rachel Colasuonno said she and other students were pleasantly surprised by the decorated doors. “Everyone was talking about them when we got back to school on Tuesday because they are so beautiful. I took pictures of them and sent them to my mom,” Colasuonno said.
Dara said she had a lot of fun doing the project, which took about 25 hours to complete over a seven-day period. “I had praise and worship music blasting while I was painting, it was like one long worship session,” Dara said. She and Chief School Administrator Karen Oblen first started collaborating on the project in the fall of 2018. Two of the doors had been decorated with Bible verses in the summer of 2017 by alumnus Candace Winkel (’16). Dara expanded on the project, adding artwork to the two doors and painting additional verses and art on the four other doors. “I feel God is going to use these verses to speak to hearts of our young women and I’m thrilled Dara was willing to donate her God-given artistic talents to bless our students and staff in this way,” Oblen said. She said a similar project is planned in the near future for the second floor boys’ bathroom.
Art is an avocation for Dara, who is a self-taught artist and works as the assistant facilities director, kitchen manager, and chef at the Atlantic City Rescue Mission. She has completed several mural projects for the Mission and is excited about an upcoming trip to Ireland in February, where she has been invited to paint murals for the Dublin Christian Mission. Photos of each door can be seen on the ACS Facebook page.