It was the biggest art project that Marion High School graduate Emily Rogers had ever done.

She painted a 4-by-4-foot panel of plywood with brightly colored swirls for her art class at MHS.

Rogers’ usual artistic medium is photography, so she asked for the help of fellow senior art student Anna Laurin to provide inspiration. They were looking up at the ceiling in Jim Versch’s art classroom and saw a tile that was decorated with brightly colored swirls.

It was up to Rogers to transfer that design to a much bigger canvas.

“It took three weeks,” Rogers said. “I worked on it every day, but it took forever because it was so big.”

Rogers thought the project was just for her class, but the panel will join nearly 200 others to be displayed outside of the construction site for the Flint Hills Discovery Center being built in Manhattan.

Aidan Hoffman, 7, of Marion, also painted a panel for the construction project. Aidan, with help from his father, David, painted a rolling plain complete with three buffalo, a stream, and a burning hill.

The panels will be publicly unveiled at 6:30 p.m. June 16 at the Marion County Park and Lake Hall. Flint Hills Discovery Center Director Bob Workman will pick up the panels and give a short presentation about the Discovery Center.