Colors of community
Students use art to define state, Lexington By Jillian Ogawa
Nancy Fraley mixed one of the nearly 80 gallons of paint that were used to paint the murals, which will be displayed outside various buildings on North Limestone after completion.
Photo by Jim Winn
A Corvette, a bottle of Ale-8-One and a houseboat on Lake Cumberland are among the things that hold Kentucky together for a group of high school students.
"It shows Kentucky as a whole; every part is part of a bigger whole," said Sarah Streepey, a junior from Lexington Catholic, of her group's mural that was painted Saturday afternoon. "It makes you feel that you are part of a bigger family."
She was among the 165 students who worked in different groups with local artists to create murals on plywood that illustrated what community means to them. The murals will be hung at 756 North Limestone.
Streepey's group mural also included handprints of the students with the theme "Holding Kentucky together."
"It makes you feel proud of Kentucky," said Malcolm Hodge, a junior from Henry Clay High School.
The mural project was in collaboration with Kentucky Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Seminar, Leadership Lexington, and Sustainable Communities Network.
Students have been participating since Thursday in the seminar, which was held at Transylvania University.
"We hope they'll take away that young people have a role to play in social change," said Jim Embry of Sustainable Communities Network.
Lauren Webb, a junior from Louisville Male High School, was among the group who painted a mural of colorful music notes. The music notes were symbolic of people in the community.
The edges of the mural had swirls of brush strokes and the drips of paint, but inside, musical notes were individualized by the students.
"It takes each note to represent the whole piece," Webb said. "We are all one harmonious song."
Lindsey Steller, a junior from Highland High School in Fort Thomas said her group illustrated the positive change of North Limestone neighborhood. Their mural showed Al's Bar surrounded by flowers and people walking a poodle along a sidewalk.
Al's Bar was among the businesses that won the 2007 Urban Innovation award from the Downtown Lexington Corp. and since its new ownership has been credited with having a positive change in the community. The story impressed Steller's group because it showed how individuals "could change the whole outlook of the neighborhood," she said.
The pictures of the finished murals, along with a description of the vision from each group, will be posted on the KY HOBY Web site, http://kyhoby.googlepages. com, later this week.
