Fresh Paint Springfield brings local students together

June 4, 2019 | Sarah Heinonen
sarah@thereminder.com

Greta McLain from Good Space Murals teaches students from Libertas Academy Charter School a painting technique called “pool and pull.”
Reminder Publishing photo by Sarah Heinonen

SPRINGFIELD – Twenty sixth and seventh-grade students from Libertas Academy in Springfield painted portions of a mural as part of the Fresh Paint Springfield community project. It consists of nine murals and 14 smaller works of art throughout downtown Springfield.

The sections of the mural that the kids worked on depict a monarch butterfly and are part of a design by Minnesota-based Good Space Murals that will span the three-story Civic Center parking garage across from the Mass Mutual Center.

Nearby, on the corner of Taylor and Main Streets, Colectivo Morivivi, a group of muralists from Puerto Rico, painted the side of a building with the help of volunteers.

Their artwork consists of two walls. The wall on Taylor Street depicts children on a beach looking out over the ocean and is meant to represent Puerto Ricans who have had to leave their island, said artist Sharon Gonzalez. Across Main Street, on Hampden Street, the second wall will show their new home in the mainland.

Fresh Paint Springfield was the brainchild of Amherst artist Britt Ruhl, who scouted the mural locations and reached out to the various artists. Ruhl said the project cost $150,000, including $50,000 from a Mass Development grant.

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