WINDHAM – A panoramic mural composed by Portland aerosol artist Tim Clorius was unveiled in a hallway near the Windham High School cafeteria on Monday afternoon.

Clorius, 36, who creates graffiti art under the name, SUBONE, spent 17 days working on the 33-by-8-foot mural, which was funded by a $13,000 Communities Putting Prevention to Work federal stimulus grant focused on promoting healthy eating at the school.

Clorius, who stands 6 feet 7 inches tall, had no trouble painting the higher reaches, but crouching for the lower areas proved a little painful at times. It was all worth it. The green-themed mural, both in color and philosophy, has been warmly received by staff and students, with Principal Chris Howell leading the praise at Monday’s official unveiling.

“I think the thing that I really enjoyed was that you’d see kids stop in the morning to see what was new from overnight,” Howell said to the 35 people in attendance. “We have a lot of blank spaces at Windham High School on our walls and to be able to add an original piece of artwork like this just does a lot for the entire building.”

Clorius described the piece as free-form flow, a type of abstract art. Given guidance by the Green Roots Club at the school, as well as from School Health Coordinator Stephanie Joyce, Clorius was trying to convey basic sustainable concepts through the piece, all centered on sustainable living.

“The students, much to my surprise, were really into it. It’s not the cliche? white-picket fence, tree, apples, clouds in the sky. They wanted something that’s more their language, more real to them,” Clorius said.

Clorius was given seven concepts to incorporate into the mural: Participation, recycling, composting, human-powered transportation, reusable water bottles, outdoor activity and healthy eating.

He centered the mural on a composting bin. Surrounding it are fish to signify the school’s Outing Club, skateboards to signify sustainable transportation and large-scale fruits and grains to signify healthy eating. At the bottom-left corner is a riveted metal slab out of which the entire mural springs.

“It depicts the old metal structures that get broken by this new way of approaching life sustainably, recycling, using reuseable water bottles, that’s the idea, that this wave of a change of young people breaks up these patterns,” said Clorius, who’s originally from Germany.

The piece is derived from graffiti, Clorius said, with some of it spray-painted onto the cinderblock walls with long-lasting acrylic paint.

“This is contemporary art. It takes its aesthetic inspiration from the form and dynamic that you often find in graffiti, but it just transfers it into contemporary art,” he said.

Whatever the inspiration, the bright colors and inherent message that challenges viewers impressed high school art teacher Jeff Bell.

“I just think it’s fantastic,” Bell said. “It brings what kids see in Portland and other places for contemporary street art into the school. This is part of their world being here at school and rather than having art that they can’t connect to, this is stuff that is really about their place and time.”

Joyce says the finished piece is dynamic and helps usher students to an area of the school where much of the healthy living efforts are concentrated, namely the school cafeteria and garden.

“I’m extremely impressed. It definitely goes beyond what my expectations were. From health to the environment I think it just gives all the different messages of sustainability that we’re trying to promote,” she said. “It’s close to the cafeteria, composter and garden. It’s nice because it acts as an entryway to all of this work.”

Tim Clorius, 36, a Portland aerosol artist, discusses a 33-by-8-foot mural he created in a hallway at Windham High School. The mural was paid for with a $13,000 federal grant to promote healthy eating and sustainable living.