(PHOTOS) Alice Smith Murals Blend Similarities and Differences

The students began the mural by tracing their outlines on the canvas. They traced one another until those outlines came to overlap—hand over foot, leg over arm. The 21 students participating in the project couldn’t be a bigger part of the art they created.

“It kind of became a puzzle of kids,” said art teacher Jennifer Silus.

The murals are part of a project to get the word out about Hopkins nonprofit ResourceWest. The students painted two murals that they finished Thursday. The murals will hang in Ridgedale Center April through December. At the end, one mural will go to ResourceWest. The other will return to Alice Smith.

The ResourceWest mural depicts the organization’s programs—coats and scarves for Winter Warm Wear, backpacks for the Back-to-School drive and, anchoring the center, a starfish for Project Starfish.

The other mural is the more-abstract one with the students’ outlines. They used a limited palette so the elements fit together but worked as a team to add additional designs.

“With larger groups, you try to do a collective activity so each person connects with one another,” said Ruth Mason, a artist who helped the students.

Fifth grader Cherrish Maxon said she’ll be happy to see the murals hanging in Ridgedale because she’s never had anything displayed where everyone can see it. She thinks they’ll love all the designs on the Alice Smith mural.

“I like how it looks and how it’s different and goes together,” Cherrish said.

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