Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
In July, the United States of America will celebrate a milestone – 250 years as a country. To commemorate such a monumental event, The American Mural Project founded the America250 Mural Project.
This project is a celebration of what makes every corner of each state important – the beauty, the heritage and the community that has grown for the past 250 years.
West Virginia Tourism and the National Endowment for the Arts sponsored grants to ensure that not only West Virginia participates in the project – it goes above and beyond to celebrate the great Mountain State.
Each of the 55 counties in West Virginia received funding to create and install a mural celebrating the unique and diverse beauty inside their borders.
When Pocahontas County Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director Chelsea Faulknier reached out to Pocahontas County High School art teacher Alison Safrit about the project, Safrit hit the ground running.
“I played around with the concept a little bit and basically, it was celebrating your community and county,” Safrit said. “Pocahontas County is super unique.”
Instead of painting the mural herself, Safrit wanted the project to be a collaboration. She asked fellow artist and educator Vivian Blackwood if she would be interested in doing the mural project with her students.
“What a treat to get to work with a friend,” Blackwood said. “Any chance to work with local schools, it’s an immediate yes.”
Blackwood set out to take pictures around the county, following Safrit’s concept of celebrating the county’s nature, attractions and industry. The mural has three main areas of focus – Guadineer Knob Spruce tree forest, the Green Bank Observatory and one of the many bicycle trails snaking through the county.
“When I was thinking about this concept – celebrating tourism and science and nature, and all the things that Pocahontas County has that is so wonderful,” Safrit said. “The forest and the mountains are why the GBO is here and it’s also using this space for industry. Also, there are so many new trails, and they are constantly adding more, so there is industry here but it’s outdoor-based, which is really great.”
“It’s a community project and it’s for the community,” Blackwood said. “When I was designing it, I felt that pressure because it is such a beautiful place. I’m so happy I’ve made a home here and I want to honor it and give it justice.
“I spent a lot of time in the planning stages and I took hundreds and hundreds of photographs in each of the different locations,” she added.
The mural spans five large pieces of plywood that will be installed in a prominent location in Marlinton once it is complete.
Safrit’s students – as well as some other PCHS students and staff – have helped with logistics and the actual painting of the mural, making it a true community project.
“The administration has been super supportive,” she said. “After I contacted Vivian, I went to [principal Ruth Bland and assistant principal Jeanette Wagoner] and said I have this really cool opportunity and they were like, a hundred precent – let’s do it.”
Safrit was given permission to use the former electricity classroom where the plywood panels were installed by carpentry teacher Jonathon Taylor and his students.
The whole process has been a great learning experience for Safrit’s students, who have now experienced what it takes to put together a large collaborative project.
“Seeing it from the first sketch to how we projected it onto the wall; it’s been really great,” she said.
After the students got the basic sketch of the mural drawn onto the plywood, it was time to start painting. To stand out from typical murals, Blackwood drew on her love for and the tradition of oil painting.
“I wanted it to really look like an oil painting,” she said. “I don’t want to go for the usual mural look which is very graphic. I want this to look like a giant, traditional oil painting. It’s like a nod to the tradition of the place and the history.”
Blackwood sprinkled in a few familiar faces, including her fiancé Philippe Willis, and Safrit and her daughter, Willow.
Work on the mural is progressing quickly, and Blackwood estimates it will be finished in the next few weeks.
Then it will be installed and the great reveal will be held.
More than 80 PCHS students have worked on the project, along with several staff.
“It’s just really exciting for the kids to be involved in something for the community,” Safrit said. “It ties the school and the community together.”
