New Mural Dedicated on Lenox Street
Have you seen the vibrant new mural that suddenly appeared on Lenox Street at the “X”? As you drive west on Sumner Avenue, your eye is drawn to the bright colors and images on your left. It’s yet another project installed by Common Wealth Murals (CWM) as part of the ongoing Portrait of a Graduate and Strategic Planning program that began five years ago. The images on the mural are based on writings and visual artwork created by Springfield Public Schools students in grades 1 through 12, representing the themes of Learn, Work, Lead, Persist, Communicate, and Thrive.
According to Britt Ruhe, CWM’s Founder and Director, the design for this mural was created by professional muralist, fashion designer, and CWM Project Manager, SELF, who incorporated the students’ work. The design was projected onto large panels of mural fabric to create a color-coded outline. Over a thousand students and community members at Sumner Avenue, Kensington, and White Street Schools, as well as other locations, used acrylic house paint to paint each panel. The panels were then installed on the side of the Caring Health Center’s new location at 479 Sumner Avenue, on a wall that stretches more than 80 feet along Lenox Street. The mural was dedicated at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday, September 9, by Mayor Sarno, Springfield School Superintendent Sonia Dinnall, CWM Director Ruhe, Caring Health Center President and CEO Tania M. Barber, Community Music School Executive Director Eileen McCaffery, and a host of other city, school, and state officials and community members.
So far, CWM has completed 12 smaller murals, each based on a single piece of student artwork, placed in schools including Alice B. Beal Elementary School on Tiffany Street in Forest Park. This Forest Park mural is one of three larger murals that incorporate the 12 winning pieces of Student artwork, with the other two being installed in the North End and Indian Orchard. The projects have received funding from the Barr Foundation, the Davis Foundation, the Springfield Cultural Council, and the Massachusetts Legislature. Ruhe said that when CWM approached Caring Health Center about using their side wall on Lenox Street for the Forest Park installation, they enthusiastically agreed, and it is by far the largest of the murals.
Britt Ruhe, Director of Common Wealth Murals, speaking at ribbon cutting ceremony, with SELF, mural designer and Project Manager on left and SPS Superintendent Sonia Dinnall in background.
If you're not familiar with the Portrait of a Graduate project, it began in September 2019 with community conversations held with over 4000 people: students, teachers, school staff and administrators, parents, and residents. The aim was to assemble a vision of what skills, knowledge, and attributes students need in order to be successful upon graduation. With funding from the Boston-based Barr Foundation, the information collected through those meetings was organized into the 6 pillars that form the foundation for a strategic plan that is being implemented now. For more information about the Portrait of a Graduate and Strategic Plan, see this page on the Springfield Public Schools website.
For a look at Common Wealth Murals’ process and some of their other projects, visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CommonWealthMurals/.
