EPHRAIM—“This is so cool. I love it.”
That was one youngster’s comment at a “reveal party” Saturday marking completion of a mural to kindness at the back of the Ephraim Family Park at 210 E. 300 South.
“That’s what we love, creating art that people respond to,” said Amy Jorgensen, executive director of the Granary Arts Center, which co-sponsored the mural project with Sanpete Kindness, a nonprofit group committed to sharing positive messages with people throughout Sanpete County.
Linda Christiansen, director of Sanpete Kindness, told the crowd of about 20 people she had wanted to create an outdoor mural and had talked to a friend, Denise Duncan, about the idea.
Denise Duncan and her husband, Mike, who is retired from the Facilities Department at Snow College, “took a drive” and identified a concrete wall in the park as a visible location.
Since the park is a joint Ephraim City-Snow College facility, Mike Duncan asked Leslie Cook, facilities director at Snow College, if it would be okay to paint the wall. Cook said, “Go ahead.”
Denise Duncan recruited Julie Hutchins Ash, an artist with mural experience, who had recently moved from Arizona to Sanpete County.
Ash came up with the concept of depicting butterflies along with caterpillars and flowers and including a verse from a children’s song: “I want to be kind to everyone, for that is right you see. So I say to myself, remember this, kindness begins with me.”
Ash sketched the figures on the wall and recruited some Snow College students along with students from Ephraim Elementary School to color in the figures.
During the reveal party, Kaci Mitchell, a staff member at the Granary Arts Center and one of the volunteer artists, played the kindness song on her ukulele and led the crowd in singing it.
Ash explained the philosophy behind the mural. “We all start out as little creatures before we bloom into our potential,” she said. “…Sometimes we never feel like great things will happen to us but we need to keep metamorphosis-ing with the help of our friends.”
