Student Mural Added to CREA Ecology Center

There’s a new addition to the Cathance River Education Alliance’s outdoor learning center, and it’s not another set of solar panels for the roof. For the past year, students from Brunswick High and Mt. Ararat have been working on a mural for the CREA Ecology Center. Every Monday, the eight students participating in this project gathered at the Ecology Center and then at Brunswick High School to plan and design the 4’x8’ mural. The painting depicts a pond scene with various animals - mostly marine invertebrates, amphibians, and birds, highlighted in the particular niche of the ecosystem they inhabit.

CREA commissioned this mural in October and a group of four students, Ari Kohorn from Brunswick High School, along with three of CREA’s Environmental Youth Leaders, Mel Christensen, and Amber Casterlin of Brunswick, and Linda Fogg of Mt. Ararat began directing and coordinating the project. “This was entirely a student directed effort”, said Cathance River Education Alliance Executive Director, Rick Wilson, who supervised the project.

Dory Whynot, Lindsey Gillis, Ari Kohorn, Ellie Kohorn, Hannah Strickland, Naomi Bravo, Isaac Atkins, all from Brunswick High School, and Courtney Torrent-Ellis, from Mt. Ararat, painted the mural from November to June. The students planned, composed, and finally painted the finished design onto a canvas generously donated (along with the paints) by Kat Logan, owner of Maine Street Art. Brunswick Framing handled the framing of the mural. On Thursday, September 3, the group unveiled their mural at the Cathance River Education Alliance where it will remain as a permanent feature.

The CREA Ecology Center is located in the Cathance River Preserve, adjacent to the Highland Green Retirement Community. The Preserve is open to the public every day from dawn to dusk. Please no pets, no hunting, no camping, no fires, no biking, and no motorized vehicles of any kind. During the school year, the CREA Ecology Center is open by appointment only, please call 798-1913. For more information about seasonal hours, programs and activities, please visit the CREA website at – www.creamaine.org

CREA’s Environmental Youth Leadership (EYL) Program was created in 2008 and is based on a successful service-learning project led by four Brunswick High students the previous year. Environmental Youth Leaders (EYLs) are a select group of thirty high school students from three local school districts, Brunswick High School in Brunswick, Mt. Ararat in Topsham, and Morse High School in Bath. EYLs are chosen yearly through an application process to receive specialized training in leadership development and environmental education. In return, EYLs help throughout the year with mentoring younger students and doing environmental presentations for members of the public in a variety of venues. EYLs also plan and carry out a number of environmental service learning projects throughout the year, like the Mural Project featured here. CREA’s EYL Program has been funded for the past two years by State Farm Insurance, Youth Advisory Board grants. The CREA Mural Project was supported by this year’s State Farm YAB funding as well.

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“It is a dynamic representation of the creatures that can be found in and around a vernal pool, such as the one nearby to the Cathance River Ecology Center.” – Mel Christensen, EYL, and student organizer for the mural project

“The challenge was to work as a group to create a composition that reflects the work of a single artist.” – Hannah Strickland, contributing mural artist and Brunswick High School senior

“This mural represents an essential focus of CREA as it combines youth voice, art, science, and the natural world. The painting embodies a wonderful enthusiasm for hidden worlds and is sure to excite folks across all generations when they visit the Ecology Center and stand before it…” – Rick Wilson, Executive Director, Cathance River Education Alliance

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* The attached photo, courtesy of “David Gillis”, depicts the mural unveiling ceremony, with the participating students who were able to attend. (From left to right are Ellie Kohorn, Hannah Strickland, Ari Kohorn, Lindsey Gillis, Mel Christensen, and Naomi Bravo. Not pictured are Amber Casterlin, Linda Fogg, Dory Whynot, Isaac Atkins, and Courtney Torrent-Ellis.)