The Board of Directors of Salida-area Parks, Open-space & Trails (SPOT) has partnered with Janine Frazee, our Salida High School Art teacher, and her National Art Honor Society (NAHS) students to propose repainting the Mesa Lane mural located along CR 153.
The Mesa Lane mural is painted on a concrete retaining wall that was built as part of the construction of the Mesa Lane Trail in 2004. The trail was funded through a Fishing is Fun (Colorado Parks & Wildlife, formerly Division of Wildlife) grant sponsored and matched by the City of Salida.
The original painting was a Boys & Girls Club project, guided by Janine. Elementary school children studied Picasso and the Cubist art movement and then painted their self portraits on the wall. It is the feeling of SPOT, Janine and some of the original painters that it is time to replace the ten year old mural.
The NAHS students are high school honor art leaders who were inducted into this extra-curricular program last fall and will be working on this project though the spring of 2015. The NAHS program aims to promote projects that serve the community and the repainting of the Mesa Lane mural fits that goal appropriately.
The current painting will be replaced with a way finding map of the Salida Trail System. The map will show main roads, water bodies, trails and significant features that should be highlighted. The students will work from an existing map, study how and what to create, and paint it next spring.
The project cost will be ~$300 for materials only. The labor will be volunteered. The Board of Directors of SPOT has agreed to pay for the materials.
SPOT received approval from the Salida City Council to proceed with this exciting project December 16, 2014.