The time for joining in on the painting fun for the Prescott Public Library mural, “A Mural Beyond Words” is quickly coming to a close. A large portion of the wall already has the “first draft” painted in. There have been painting potluck parties on Saturdays in August, in addition to the artists working during the week. Thirty to 35 volunteers of all ages came out this Saturday to help get the mural done.  There is a small “stub wall” to be painted this coming Saturday August 16th from 10 am to 1 pm. After that, the Mural Mice will call in the professionals.

The mural, which was conceived by Prescott Downtown Mural Project’s (PDMP) directors R E Wall and Margaret Dewar is truly a community project. From the beginning the public was invited to participate with ideas, input and then voting for the final mural design. The painting started in late July and has been going on ever since.

On Saturday August 23rd, the Mural Mice will hold a sort of thank you get together for the children who have participated in the painting of the wall. This will be a “Ceremonial Mousing,” which Wall says is “sort of like a knighting.” This will be their initiation into the “Grand Order of Mural Mice.” Sometime in September the Knighted Mural Mice Kids will be invited to “storm City Hall with a large “Squeak In” to bring awareness to the forefront of the progress of the mural. Wall says the kids will be “squeaking out for public art.”

The mosaic portion of the mural will begin next month. Then the skilled and professional painters will be brought in to do the photo-realistic portion of the mural. The PDMA will be looking for models in September for some faces, and a lot of different body sizes. The volunteers will be “draped” (meaning wearing clothes similar to the design in the mural) for the artists. Wall says this is how the professionals will get the folds in the fabric painted correctly. They hope to find people who look as much like the design as possible also. Wall jokes, “And we’re looking for a real dragon.” (There is a huge green dragon depicted in the mural.)

Children and adults who are interested in theatre can volunteer with the Mural Mice Theatre Company. There will be a play performed when the mural is completely finished at the wall dedication. Wall said that the students from Prescott Mile High Middle School had a wonderful play at their dedication. He says they were very enthusiastic and fun to work with. “They had all these elaborate plans and pulled together their own costumes. It was great.” He hopes to get a similar response when it comes time for the Prescott Public Library mural dedication.

The August painting days are also potlucks, so if you come next Saturday feel free to bring some food or snacks to share. If you would like to volunteer at other times, contact the Prescott Public Library, or the PDMP.

Photo Gallery

Click on a thumbnail to view a larger photo.

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed