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Southern students creating mural in Salineville

Southern Local Elementary sixth-grader Shirley Adkins works on her design idea for a new mural eyed in the village of Salineville. The village council approved a plan for students to do the project, which will be assisted by a professional artist and mounted on the village hall. A completion date was set for this May. (Submitted photo)

SALINEVILLE — The public will have the chance to view the artistic talents of Southern Local Elementary School students as they create a mural for the village of Salineville.

Village officials recently approved an idea by art teacher Kimberly Adams to add a mural to Village Hall on Main Street, featuring original works by schoolchildren. She was planning to return to council’s March session with a proposal for the actual design.

“I’m excited because it’s in the heart of Salineville,” Adams said.

A $600 Best Practices Grant from the Jefferson County Educational Service Center is helping finance the project, which is eyed for completion in May. Adams said students will work with Toledo-based professional artist Matt Taylor and their designs will decorate massive plywood panels that will be added to the space, which spans at least 16 feet tall and 24 feet wide.

“The students have already started designing and I came up with an idea they can work around,” Adams added, noting that most of the work will be completed on the plywood pieces inside the classroom and her fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade art students have worked on their ideas during their related arts periods over the past nine weeks. “We will use historical photos of Salineville — past and present photos with the kids and transfer them onto the mural. Matt Taylor will spend time with the kids, so they get to see someone working in the field and it gives them an opportunity to see how they can do something.”

She hopes to have the designs ready for exhibition during the upcoming District Showcase on March 23, which runs 5-7 p.m. with a fundraising dinner by the football boosters 4-6 p.m.

Meanwhile, Adams plans to select pieces of ideas from each students’ rendering to include on the mural, which will be painted onto the plywood and mounted on the building. The work will is set to begin in in April and Adams’ goal is to have it ready by the end of the school year in May.

“The fifth- and sixth-grade classes have had their [classes] in the previous nine weeks and the fourth-grade starts in March. I’ve had conversations with the fifth- and sixth-graders about the community and I think it’s going to be good because it’s a beautiful project. It’s going to be a bright spot in the community that the kids could be proud of and say, ‘I did that.'”

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