SYRACUSE, Utah — A Syracuse teen has turned a school project into a chalk art display of Disney characters for her entire neighborhood. But there's also a message behind the art that the teen is sharing with her neighbors.
Without school in session, Brielle Hipolito's driveway has turned into her art class.
"Teacher, she asked us, all of her art students, to do some sort of a chalk drawing," the 9th grade Syracuse Arts Academy student said.
Truth be told, Brielle wasn't looking forward to it.
"I thought, I should probably just get it done and over with," she said.
So earlier this week, the 15-year old quickly whipped up a Winnie the Pooh for her project.
But something clicked.
"I really hated chalk, 'cause I hate the feeling of chalk on my fingers and stuff like that," Brielle said. "But after doing one of them, I realized how really easy it was to make something look so cool, and fun, and unique," Brielle said.
So, she decided to keep going. Even her sister and mother joined in, until they drew more than two dozen Disney characters across the driveway and sidewalk.
"The more she does, it impresses me," said mom Naomi Hipolito. "Every time she does a picture I'm like, 'Holy cow! How'd you do that?!'"
Naomi described how the neighbors have noticed all the art, and come by to enjoy it.
"Waving at us, or have been honking, and just telling us how fun this is," Naomi said. "Some lady came by and said, 'Thank you for doing this! It's so cool, it's so fun.'"
On Friday evening, several cars drove by and slowed down or stopped to admire the artwork-- which includes Disney characters from movies like Finding Nemo, Beauty and the Beast, Wall-E, Peter Pan, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Moana, 101 Dalmations, Lilo and Stitch, Frozen, Bambi, Pinocchio, Cars, Toy Story, Mulan, The Princess and the Frog, and Monsters, Inc.
Upon studying the characters, one might notice mixed in the art is an elephant representing Alzheimer's awareness, and a message: "We miss you Grandma."
"She always loved animated characters, she thought they were just so cute," Brielle said, of her grandmother. She said her grandmother passed away at the beginning of the month.
This art display of Disney characters is something her grandmother would have loved.
"I think that was the one thing that she really remembered too. Because she had dementia, so she was forgetting a lot of things," Brielle said. "But she always, no matter what, always loved Disney characters."
Next to her message for grandma, Brielle wrote another message for the whole community, with inspiration from Peter Pan: "Think happy thoughts."
"I really hope that it gives people a smile," Brielle said. "Kind of make someone's day with just seeing something cute like this."
Oh, and by the way-- Brielle passed her assignment. Her teacher even gave her extra credit.
