Thanks to 36 young artists working over 15 painting days a 15-by-90.5-foot vibrant mural is gracing downtown Williams Lake.
Under the mentorship of Tiffany Jorgensen of Cariboo Art Beat, the youth-led mural is the largest mural in the city and painted on the side of the new Foundry Cariboo Chilcotin building at Fourth Avenue South.
Construction will begin on the building’s renovation in a few weeks and hopefully be ready to open in March 2022.
“The youngest artist was eight and the oldest was 22,” Jorgensen said during an unveiling of the mural Tuesday, Sept. 7, where she announced the youth chose to name the mural Positive Brain Soup.
Jorgensen said she could not think of anything that was not represented in the mural.
“There are so many tiny little things added. Someone said they came and looked at it and it took them over an hour to see everything,” she said, then congratulated the youth for being “so awesome.”
One of the artists, Allison McKinnon, said she had a lot of fun.
“I got to meet a lot of people from different ages,” she said. When asked to show something she’d painted, she indicated Kermit the Frog was hers, adding, “of course.”
Molly Warr enjoyed painting some bubbles, a puzzle piece and some stripes on some seaweed, while Cory Stecyk who only painted for a couple of days contributed a puzzle piece with a chess piece inside.
“It was the first time I’ve ever done anything like this,” Stecyk said.
Cariboo Chilcotin Child Development Centre’s George Warr, who is the project lead for the foundry, said the mural received lots of community support for which he was thankful.
“I am also thankful for the passion and commitment of the youth and want to single out Tiffany for her mentorship and facilitating the mural.”
Mayor Walt Cobb attended the unveiling and said he was impressed as he walked along its entirety and chatted with some of the youth who painted it.
In August, city council unanimously allocated $5,000 from its mural fund toward the project.
READ MORE: Youth, caregivers, asked for input on Foundry Cariboo Chilcotin’s development
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