PHOTOS
Alicia Grega-Pikul
It was a mural painted at Nay Aug Park two years ago that inspired Sandi Opshinsky to expand the art to every pool in the city.
Not to be confused with a portable Heart to Art mural like the ones prepared in recent training workshops at Connell Park and Weston Field, this summer’s paintings are permanent, spanning entire pool house walls. Each of the five murals will be painted over the course of one seven-day week. Enabled by funding from Lackawanna County Children and Youth Services’ ARTSS Engage initiative, painting begins on the first mural at Weston Field on Saturday, opening day for city pools.
“Since we lack a (formal) summer recreation program, I thought it would be really nice to develop this as an artistic outlet for some of the neighborhood kids who come and use the pools,” explained Opshinsky, who works as a recreations specialist for the City of Scranton.
“A lot of times when doing an arts program, transportation is an issue, especially in the summer. This is available in everyone’s neighborhood.”
The program is not restricted to children; community members of all ages are encouraged to participate. Professional artists Sara Stamford and Joe Opshinsky have prepared preliminary design sketches and will guide painters in the placement of their contributions.
“We also have students from Keystone College and students coming in from Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program (www.muralarts.org) who will assist and conduct the mentor portion of the program,” Opshinsky said.
Sketches prepared for Weston Field stem from an apple tree of legendary proportions.
“There was an enormous apple tree here when this was Capoose’s village when the indians occupied this area. Supposedly it was 15 feet around the base and everyone knew about it,” she explained.
Starting with these Native American roots and extending into the city’s skyline, the mural will portray a “march of history through the eyes of the apple tree,” with personalized apples and sections of buildings.
July’s schedule includes Weston Park in North Scranton (July 5-11), which will feature an image of kids creating a trompe l’oeil street painting of the city skyline. An aquatic landscape crested by a parade of children’s legs and feet dangling into the water will be created at the Novembrino pool in West Scranton on July 18-25.
The mural at the Penn Ridge Swim Complex (Aug. 1-8) will center around the silhouettes of swimmers from the nearby Boys and Girls Club who spend much of their summers cooling off at the Capouse Avenue pool. Inspired by the Dog Park at Connell Park, the final mural will invite community members to paint the likenesses of their dogs Aug. 15-22.
“The school lunch program brings lunches to our pool sites. So for those children who do want to stay the entire day, they’ll be offered a lunch also,” Opshinsky said. “It’s free and you don’t have to sign up. That would be great, but you can come at will — for just an hour or an entire day.”
Call 348-4186 for more information.