Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, this year in partnership with The Home Depot and BEHR paint, awarded eight community groups with paint and painting supplies enabling them to transform a community structure in need into something beautiful.

With one of the Fresh Paint Days grants, the City of Shamokin, Northumberland County Council for the Arts, local artists, and volunteers worked together to bring a mural to life on the façade of the Kalloway Center for the Arts, located on Lincoln Street.

This stately home was bequeathed to the Arts Council and is used for various classes, including children’s art classes.

Three children from the community were chosen to pose for the artists while they sketched the mural, depicting children in various activities and encouraging children and adults alike to explore the arts offered inside.

Benches owned by the City of Shamokin and lining Lincoln Street were dismantled and transported to the Northumberland County Career and Technical Center to be repaired, sanded and painted with BEHR paint.

An Arts Council artist drafted patterns with a patriotic theme and the students followed the specifications provided. The benches were brought back to Lincoln Street where final artwork and sealer was applied.

“We are so thankful to have been awarded this grant. It has encouraged a rather depressed community to have pride in what we have,” said Jeanne Shaffer, Executive Director, Northumberland City Council for the Arts. “There are no businesses or industry in our area and this project was a huge encouragement to our town, to the government, the Arts Council and most of all the residents.

“The Shamokin bench and mural project made possible through a grant provided by Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, BEHR and The Home Depot will be added to our Anthracite Heritage Festival of the Arts historical wagon tour as a successful project done in 2017,” added Shaffer.

“Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful is delighted to play a part in the Shamokin mural and bench project.  It is so inspirational to see what can be accomplished when community members work together,” said Shannon Reiter, President of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful.  “The transformations are a visible reminder of the pride that people have for the places they live. Through our partnership with BEHR and The Home Depot we are honored to be a part of these community revitalization efforts.”

Click Here for a complete list of 2017 Fresh Paint Days projects supported.

For more information on programs, initiatives and special events, visit the Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful website. Click Here to become a member.  Click Here to sign up for regular updates from KPB, Like them on Facebook, Follow on Twitter, Discover them on Pinterest and visit their YouTube Channel.

Also visit the Illegal Dump Free PA website for more ideas on how to clean up communities and keep them clean and KPB’s Electronics Waste website.

(Photo: Local artist, Claude Harrington paints a portion of the mural on the Kalloway Center for the Arts.)

[Posted: Nov. 9, 2017]

11/13/2017