(April 7, 2016) Phase one of a public mural unveiled last month and hanging outside the Berlin Visitor’s Center involved second and third-grade students from nearby Buckingham Elementary School.
Painting of the second phase will include children from three programs at Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services Inc. in Berlin.
Muralist John Donato will continue his work on the project, overseen by the Berlin Arts & Entertainment Committee. Committee member Robin Tomaselli said the month of April would be used for planning, with work scheduled to start in May.
“When that first panel was unveiled, those kids were so proud,” Tomaselli said. “Their piece of artwork now permanently graces the side of that visitor’s center. We feel like this new group of kids will have the same experience.”
During phase one, the committee relied on people such as Carol Rose, from the Berlin Historical Society, to help guide the children. Tomaselli said she hopes to continue that trend of mentorship during phase two, while slightly expanding the geographical reach – and, potentially, its impact.
“We have already gotten some tentative thumbs up from people in the community that have grown up over across [Route] 113, in Flower Street and Germantown, who are very successful,” she said. “People like Gerald Purnell, who is a Worcester County judge, and Patrick Henry. We also intend to involve Chief Arnold [Downing] and some of the police officers.
“We really wanted to find people that [the children] could relate to,” Tomaselli continued. “One of the things they’ve expressed, in different settings, is that they don’t feel like they’re a part of this downtown community. We’re trying to bridge that divide. Really, there’s one Berlin.”
Tomaselli said new work would follow the same train motif started in the first panel, which hangs on the north-facing wall of the visitor’s center building, on Main Street. It will also continue to tell the story of the history of the town.
“If you notice, on the first panel, there’s a train track that is carrying a boxcar of the books,” she said. “That track is going to continue. The mural is also going to go from spring all the way through winter, and it’s also going to tell the story of the past, through the future.”
WYFCS Executive Director Steven Taylor said children in the Berlin Youth Club, as well as the SAGES and SABERS programs, would work on the next portion of the mural.
The youth club is a general program, open to children ages 6-11, while SAGES (Strengthening Adolescent Girls with Education and Support) and SABERS (Strengthening Adolescent Boys with Education and Resources) are slightly more specialized.
“A lot of our girls have barriers to self-achievement, and so we, through group, try to understand what those barriers are and knock them down, and get them to work together to try to solve whatever issue they’re struggling with,” Taylor said.
“The boy’s program is a little bit different, not necessarily by design, but, because of the nature of [the current] group, the boys are more focused on social interaction. They’re trying to learn to support and interact with one another, and even interact with people that they don’t know very well.”
Taylor said the majority of the children in all three programs have never had an opportunity to express themselves through art, a situation on which the mural work will focus. He said secondary benefits would include lessons in communication and social skills.
“A lot of them are learning how to express themselves at this age anyway, and so the timing is great for that,” he said. “And it’s great for them to have it on Main Street, where others can see it, and they can tell their friends about it and their families about it.
“My hope is that they think about the vision for the community, what they want the community to be, what’s important to them, and then portray that through this mural that can be shared with the community,” Taylor continued. “A lot of kids don’t really think about the future and what they want their community to be or look like. This project has an opportunity to provide that, and that’s what’s really appealing to us.”
The Berlin Arts & Entertainment Committee recently launched a new website, www.artsinberlin.org. Along with information on committee’s activities, the site accepts donations, from $5 to $5,000, to help fund future portions of the mural.
For more information on Worcester Youth and Family, visit www.gowoyo.org.
Painting of the second phase will include children from three programs at Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services Inc. in Berlin.
Muralist John Donato will continue his work on the project, overseen by the Berlin Arts & Entertainment Committee. Committee member Robin Tomaselli said the month of April would be used for planning, with work scheduled to start in May.
“When that first panel was unveiled, those kids were so proud,” Tomaselli said. “Their piece of artwork now permanently graces the side of that visitor’s center. We feel like this new group of kids will have the same experience.”
During phase one, the committee relied on people such as Carol Rose, from the Berlin Historical Society, to help guide the children. Tomaselli said she hopes to continue that trend of mentorship during phase two, while slightly expanding the geographical reach – and, potentially, its impact.
“We have already gotten some tentative thumbs up from people in the community that have grown up over across [Route] 113, in Flower Street and Germantown, who are very successful,” she said. “People like Gerald Purnell, who is a Worcester County judge, and Patrick Henry. We also intend to involve Chief Arnold [Downing] and some of the police officers.
“We really wanted to find people that [the children] could relate to,” Tomaselli continued. “One of the things they’ve expressed, in different settings, is that they don’t feel like they’re a part of this downtown community. We’re trying to bridge that divide. Really, there’s one Berlin.”
Tomaselli said new work would follow the same train motif started in the first panel, which hangs on the north-facing wall of the visitor’s center building, on Main Street. It will also continue to tell the story of the history of the town.
“If you notice, on the first panel, there’s a train track that is carrying a boxcar of the books,” she said. “That track is going to continue. The mural is also going to go from spring all the way through winter, and it’s also going to tell the story of the past, through the future.”
WYFCS Executive Director Steven Taylor said children in the Berlin Youth Club, as well as the SAGES and SABERS programs, would work on the next portion of the mural.
The youth club is a general program, open to children ages 6-11, while SAGES (Strengthening Adolescent Girls with Education and Support) and SABERS (Strengthening Adolescent Boys with Education and Resources) are slightly more specialized.
“A lot of our girls have barriers to self-achievement, and so we, through group, try to understand what those barriers are and knock them down, and get them to work together to try to solve whatever issue they’re struggling with,” Taylor said.
“The boy’s program is a little bit different, not necessarily by design, but, because of the nature of [the current] group, the boys are more focused on social interaction. They’re trying to learn to support and interact with one another, and even interact with people that they don’t know very well.”
Taylor said the majority of the children in all three programs have never had an opportunity to express themselves through art, a situation on which the mural work will focus. He said secondary benefits would include lessons in communication and social skills.
“A lot of them are learning how to express themselves at this age anyway, and so the timing is great for that,” he said. “And it’s great for them to have it on Main Street, where others can see it, and they can tell their friends about it and their families about it.
“My hope is that they think about the vision for the community, what they want the community to be, what’s important to them, and then portray that through this mural that can be shared with the community,” Taylor continued. “A lot of kids don’t really think about the future and what they want their community to be or look like. This project has an opportunity to provide that, and that’s what’s really appealing to us.”
The Berlin Arts & Entertainment Committee recently launched a new website, www.artsinberlin.org. Along with information on committee’s activities, the site accepts donations, from $5 to $5,000, to help fund future portions of the mural.
For more information on Worcester Youth and Family, visit www.gowoyo.org.