The Town of Arcadia is set to officially unveil its new building mural designed and hand painted by Hamilton Heights High School art students at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15. The community is invited to attend this special event which is a part of the town’s three-day Fall Festival, set for Oct. 15-17.
Arcadia was among 18 communities and organizations awarded nearly $90,000 in the spring a Quick Impact Placebased Grant (QuIP) through the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) and the Indiana Arts Commission (IAC). This matching grant program is designed to fund transformational projects that spark community-wide conversations and creativity.
This $5,000 matching grant was directed toward the creation of a mural on the west side of one of its two-story downtown buildings and where the community splash pad will be installed next summer. Partners for this project include Hamilton Heights High School art students and Nickel Plate Arts.
Hamilton Heights High School students Joshua Snay and Allyson Dinwiddie are shown working on the custom mural that shares a story of community. Snay and Dinwiddie were among the five Heights students who worked on the community art project. (Photo provided)
“This was something we had been looking into for a few years,” Arcadia Clerk Treasurer Jennifer Pickett said. “We worked with Amy Shankland, a grant writer from Noblesville, and were notified in the spring that we were one of this year’s recipients! We brought Hamilton Heights High School Art Teacher, Taylor Myers, into the loop and it didn’t take long for the project to take shape.”
Under the supervision of Myers, five art students helped design and paint the mural. The students involved included Joshua Snay and Cylie Starr (seniors), Jonelle Penin and Allyson Dinwiddie (juniors), and Lucy Hubbell (sophomore). These students will be presented with a $1,000 scholarship for their time and talent on the project. Some $2,000 has been allocated for future student art projects in the community.
“I believe that art deserves a place in every community to bring people together,” Myers said. “Art, at its core, is a language that transcends language and communicates ideas, beliefs, and values. It has always been important to me that my students know that art, specifically their art, can serve a greater purpose than a grade in my classes. I am blessed with students that work hard and love what they do and even more blessed that we were given the opportunity to represent the town of Arcadia through the support of the community.”
“The color mural is truly a work of art and brings this building to life,” added Pickett.
Special thanks to Taylor Myers, Koda Witsken, Hamilton Heights students, Nickel Plate Arts, and Indiana Office of Community & Rural Affairs.