By Brenda Erdahl
Staff Writer
Artists will bring some color to the Annandale Community Education building this spring thanks to a grant from the Central Minnesota Arts Board.
Annandale Middle School art teacher Maureen Fisher was awarded $3,600 to paint a mural on the outside wall along Cherry Avenue.
With the help of Sue Thwing and a handful of students, the two artists hope to transform what is now drab gray into a colorful depiction of Annandale’s past meeting Annandale’s present.
Detailed decision
A more detailed decision on the subject will be sorted out at a Monday, April 18, meeting, Thwing said.
“We’ll see what kind of ideas come out of that meeting. We’re trying for a history of Annandale to its present moment,” she said.
Thwing and Fisher are old hands at mural painting. They used to organize a student-centered arts club that was responsible for the mural on the warming house at the ice skating rink and several pieces inside AMS.
But the last time they got together was seven or eight years ago, Thwing said.
With this project, they hope to resurrect the idea behind that group, which was to get kids involved in art and their community.
20 students
So far 20 middle-school-aged students have expressed interest.
Thwing hopes several high school students will also join the ranks.
“We want to incorporate different generations into it. Hopefully the high school students can mentor the younger kids,” she said. “We want all levels and skills involved.”
The two women will need all the help they can get if they are to meet the deadline stipulated by the arts board.
June 12 deadline
To keep the grant, the mural has to be finished by June 12.
Fisher and Thwing challenged their group of students to do some research into Annandale’s past by talking to residents to come up with designs.
On April18, they will look for additional ideas in images of the old Centra Sota grain elevator mural, Thwing said.
The mural, organized by the late Ada Dawson, was destroyed when the elevator was torn down more than a decade ago.
For many of the kids, that piece of art, which included a lot of Annandale history, had come and gone before they were born, Thwing said.
Get rolling
Once the group has a firm idea, things will really get rolling.
They will start meeting every Monday – and maybe more often than that, Thwing said – until it’s finished.
Thwing hopes to start applying paint by the end of April, as long as the weather cooperates.
Funding for CMAB Arts and Cultural Heritage Project Grants is available through an appropriation by the State Legislature with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on Nov. 4, 2008.
“We’re just so grateful the Legacy funds are there,” Thwing said.
“The people of Minnesota have always been so supportive of arts and culture.”
Artists will bring some color to the Annandale Community Education building this spring thanks to a grant from the Central Minnesota Arts Board.
Annandale Middle School art teacher Maureen Fisher was awarded $3,600 to paint a mural on the outside wall along Cherry Avenue.
With the help of Sue Thwing and a handful of students, the two artists hope to transform what is now drab gray into a colorful depiction of Annandale’s past meeting Annandale’s present.
Detailed decision
A more detailed decision on the subject will be sorted out at a Monday, April 18, meeting, Thwing said.
“We’ll see what kind of ideas come out of that meeting. We’re trying for a history of Annandale to its present moment,” she said.
Thwing and Fisher are old hands at mural painting. They used to organize a student-centered arts club that was responsible for the mural on the warming house at the ice skating rink and several pieces inside AMS.
But the last time they got together was seven or eight years ago, Thwing said.
With this project, they hope to resurrect the idea behind that group, which was to get kids involved in art and their community.
20 students
So far 20 middle-school-aged students have expressed interest.
Thwing hopes several high school students will also join the ranks.
“We want to incorporate different generations into it. Hopefully the high school students can mentor the younger kids,” she said. “We want all levels and skills involved.”
The two women will need all the help they can get if they are to meet the deadline stipulated by the arts board.
June 12 deadline
To keep the grant, the mural has to be finished by June 12.
Fisher and Thwing challenged their group of students to do some research into Annandale’s past by talking to residents to come up with designs.
On April18, they will look for additional ideas in images of the old Centra Sota grain elevator mural, Thwing said.
The mural, organized by the late Ada Dawson, was destroyed when the elevator was torn down more than a decade ago.
For many of the kids, that piece of art, which included a lot of Annandale history, had come and gone before they were born, Thwing said.
Get rolling
Once the group has a firm idea, things will really get rolling.
They will start meeting every Monday – and maybe more often than that, Thwing said – until it’s finished.
Thwing hopes to start applying paint by the end of April, as long as the weather cooperates.
Funding for CMAB Arts and Cultural Heritage Project Grants is available through an appropriation by the State Legislature with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on Nov. 4, 2008.
“We’re just so grateful the Legacy funds are there,” Thwing said.
“The people of Minnesota have always been so supportive of arts and culture.”