Students to paint mural on Save-A-Lot

Young artists are hoping to inspire and connect with the community through their new mural, which will be located on the walls of Save-A-Lot, opposite the National Insurance Services Building in Kingstown.{{more}}

Students who are partipants in the Fine Arts, Design and Cultural Communications Associate’s Degree programme at the Community College have taken up the challenge to design and paint a mural in that location.

They estimate the assignment will take at least one month.

Art lecturer Vonnie Roudette said the mural is part of an elective course that is designed to link the students with their environment.

“The focus of these elective courses is to give the students skills and opportunities to apply their creativity and problem solving skills to community…social and environmental challenges,” Roudette said.

The Ministry of Tourism is also playing a distinct role in the production of the new mural in Kingstown. The subject of the mural’s artwork will be various tourism sites in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Additionally, because of the proximity of the mural to the cruise ship berth, which is a tourist point of entry, it will give visitors a meaningful and impactful presentation of the multi-island state, Roudette said.

“That’s a healthy thing for tourism. They are very keen that the entry for the city has a positive impact,” the art lecturer noted.

Additionally, Roudette stated that this mural is the fifth largest mural that students from the programme have ever done.

“People don’t realize that there’s been a lot of work done before,” she said. “There’s actually so much work that has happened to get to this point”.

The young artists, who are a part of the Contemporary Young Artists Movement (CYAM), say a lot of work has been put into designing the mural. They mentioned that while the mural will feature sites that attract foreigners, it is also geared towards encouraging locals to visit the sites.

“We want tourists and locals alike to have an appreciation of what we have here, to create a sense of pride, as well as show what the country has to offer,” one of the artists, Alexandra Mascoll, explained.

Another young artist, Kithesha James, said that with the aid of the Ministry of Tourism, they were able to visit various sites to get a feeling of the tourist attractions. She added that the artists collaborated and merged the sites in a design that is attractive and will appeal to both locals and tourists.

The lone male in the group, Sean Roache, said this is the third mural that he has worked on and he feels good to be a part of it.

“It feels like I want to get the job done,” he said.

“It’s something to help me grow as a person. It’s more developmental than some project where you go and pass it by.”

The six artists who are a part of the Associate’s Degree programme will work on the mural. The programme consists of several courses which include Heritage and the Environment, Graphic Design and a Psychology based course, designed to connect art with the environment.

The CYAM was formed by Roudette and consists of the past students of the art programme. The movement has spearheaded many projects in the past, including a yearly calendar that showcases the young artists’ work.

The students also have a radio programme dubbed “The Art Room,” which is broadcast on NBC Radio at 1 p.m. every Saturday.

The artists began prepping the site for their mural last Wednesday. (BK)