Students in an AACC art class painted a 68-foot mural on the side of the Glen Burnie AACC campus building last spring.

The mural features six images of balloons designed by the students to reflect the history of Glen Burnie.

The largest balloon shows a ferris wheel to represent the annual county fair and another depicts a child ice skating at a local rink.

Annapolis painter Jeff Huntington consulted on the project. Huntington, who goes by Jahru, has painted murals on buildings around the world.

The students did some research before settling on their design.

“We made a point of talking to everyone [in Glen Burnie] and gathering their opinions on the designs we made, and what they felt represented Glen Burnie the best,” art student Anna Broomfield said.

The project was time-consuming, art student Scout Bender said, because the class had to get approval for the designs from the Glen Burnie Improvement Association, an organization in charge of bettering Glen Burnie, and others.

“There were times during the design phase that it felt like the plan was going to fall through because it was reliant on [those approvals],” Bender said.

The mural was a part of an Anne Arundel County beautification project to make the area more inviting to nearby homeowners and students.

The campus building is part of Glen Burnie Town Center.

Art professor Matt Klos, whose class created the mural, said the students spent three and a half weeks painting and the rest of the semester planning and researching.

He said the students wanted the mural to reflect the Glen Burnie community and its people, many of whom are lifelong residents.

“I think the mural really made people happy because we centered the mural on these people, their stories and their history specifically,” Klos said.

He added: “We wanted the mural to really connect with them. We wanted to be sure that we weren’t making art that these people didn’t care about and we wanted it to be something they would want to keep around, rather than paint over in a few years.”

Students said they would recommend the art class to others, including non-majors.

“Was it hard work?” Broomfield asked. “Yes, but it was worth it.”