Group unveils park mural

Usually when Carson City teenagers paint on walls, it leads to trouble.

However, when six Carson teens put their brushes to a wall at Ross Gold Park this summer, the result was not troublesome, but an example of cooperation and creativity.

Braving crisp fall winds, a small group gathered Tuesday at Ross Gold Park for the unveiling of a new mural, which the artists said offers a "view of our capital through the eyes of our future."

Or, said one artist - Carson City as the center of the universe. The mural blends a painting of the Capitol and neighboring state legislative buildings with a space theme. Surrounded by planets and stars, an astronaut, the future, holds Nevada's flag while he floats in space over the Capitol.

"Kids are creative," said Dianne Aguirre, the Reno artist hired to supervise the six budding artists. "If you give them something to do, they're going to be creative."

Viewing their handiwork Tuesday, artists Tabitha Gladish, 16; C.J. Smith, 14; Savannah Kurtz, 16; Elizabeth Jacobsen, 18; and Jeremy Falconer, 15, said the thing they learned the most from the eight-week project was how to work together and the fine art of mixing colors. Artist Carmen Berumen was absent from the unveiling ceremony.

"Let's put it this way. It was six strangers put to the completion of one task," Gladish said. "We learned to work better as a group because we got to work together toward a goal. We also made something memorable that will stay here for a lot of years."

The group confessed to not being stellar artists before the project, but said they thought they were pretty good now.

"I had a lot of fun and learned how to mix colors," Falconer said. "Now I can paint at home. They don't look like this, but I'm still proud of them."

Carson City's parks department gave about $2,600 of the roughly $4,000 needed for the project. The artists were paid as part of Job Opportunities in Northern Nevada's summer program for youth. The Brewery Arts Center administered the program. The project actually took eight days to complete, but was stretched out over eight weeks.

Scott Fahrenbruch, parks superintendent, said the city would like to see more murals in the parks.

"There are a lot of art focal points to place murals," he said. "They really add to the attractiveness of the parks."