By Patrick Adrian
Staff Writer
UNITY — Area youth ages 10 and up have a unique opportunity this month to add their brushstrokes to a county collaborative mural project, courtesy of the Sullivan County Natural Resources Department and local partners.
The mural, slated to be 8 feet by 16 feet, will be painted onto a facade of the public cidery this month and will feature illustrations inspired by area children in its final design.
Claremont artist Allison Zito held a number of free classes for area children during the month of July, some online and some in-person, to create pictures that reflect the region’s apple harvest season.
In sessions at the Arrowhead lodge in Claremont, children created pictures using multiple mediums, including colored pencils, pastels, acrylic paints and watercolors, Zito told The Eagle Times.
Zito has been working with county administrators to review the childrens’ ideas to incorporate into a final mural design.
Zito will tweak some of the images to create cohesion, Zito said. Some image selection will derive from preferences by the county officials.
“They liked the idea of animals in the mural,” Zito said. “And of people picking apples.”
But the officials expressed less preference for images of horses, the animal of choice in many of the childrens’ drawings, according to Zito.
“They don’t think of Claremont and Unity as horse-towns,” Zito laughed. “Though they noted that people do frequently see wild turkeys, so we might have some turkeys in the mural.”
Beginning Monday, Aug. 23, Zito will be overseeing small groups of youth, ages 10 and older, as well as families and adult volunteers in sessions to paint the design to the cidery wall.
“Allison is an unsung hero,” said Lionel Chute, county director of the Natural Resources Department. “She has done so much for this project.”
There is no cost to participate in the painting and experience is not necessary, organizers told The Eagle Times. All materials will be provided, courtesy of the county and its partners, the Claremont Makerspace and LaValley Building Supply in Claremont.
Children must be age 10 or older to paint. Families are welcome to help paint, though children under the age of 10 must be supervised at all times.
The property, located at the Sullivan County Complex in Unity, has a garden, a nature trail, a forested area, a stream and a pond, organizers said.
Between now and Aug. 23, the cidery wall will be sanded, cracks in the wood filled and coated in a conditioner and primer, Zito said.
Zito has not decided which way she will transpose the design to the wall for people to paint. Zito said she will either use a projector to project the image to the wall or trace the illustrations directly atop the primer.
The mural, once complete, will be unveiled at a free public event to kick off the 2021 cidery season, sometime this fall, according to Chute.
“We want to have some fun with this unveiling,” said Chute, indicating plans to hopefully have local live music or youth performances, possibly from local dance, gymnastics or martial arts groups.
The event will also celebrate the opening of the county’s newest trail, the Jeff Barrett trail. Named after the former County Commissioner, the Barrett Trail is a half-mile loop through a spruce-fir forest.
Spruce-fir forests are a “completely different habitat” from the coniferous pine forests commonly found in the region, Chute said. Spruce-fir forests typically thrive in high elevations, above 5,500 feet, and in colder, wetter climates than what broad-leaved hardwoods frequent.
Chute said the new trail will be used for recreation and educational visits.
Registration is required to participate in a mural painting session, as each session will be limited to five painters.
Available session days will be on the weekdays from Monday, Aug. 23, through Friday, Aug. 27, as well as Monday, Aug. 30, and Tuesday, Aug. 31. Each painting day will have two sessions to choose from, a morning session from 9 a.m. to noon and an evening session from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
“This has been a nice project all around,” Zito said. “I am excited about working with [local] youth again.”
To reserve a session space, click on the following link, https://bit.ly/3CcAUVO. For additional questions, contact Dawn Dextraze, county education and outreach specialist, at (603) 504-1004 or by email at [email protected].
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