Middletown mural could be one of many

What do a 71-year-old Cuban man and a bunch of Middletown area students have in common? A vibrant mural that has emerged on the back and side of the Flowers by Roger building downtown.

Luis Eliades was on hand Sunday afternoon to help put the finishing strokes on the mural that memorializes a painting of his of the Cuban goddess of love, Oshun, on the back wall. It also has a leafy creation with sunflowers, snails and large orange fruits, sketched by Brandon Johnston, a local artist and teacher at the Art Central Foundation.

About 21 students total were set to show up in shifts on Sunday to help fill in the blanks. Kay Kleingers, 16, a student at Bishop Fenwick High School was perched on a ladder dabbing brown and bright red and royal blue paint on the back wall.

“It’s amazing, I drive past here sometimes and I’m like I helped make this, it’s fantastic, because people talk about it,” she said, adding she was born an artist. “It’s comes really naturally to me, I always have be drawing something, or else I don’t feel right, I don’t feel normal.”

This was Eliades’ first sojourn to the states and he and other artists are a part of ReART, an international cultural exchange program. Speaking through interpreter Mel Worvis, Eliades said the students were doing an awesome job recreating his work.

“I like the feeling of being a professor, it is a normal feeling to see students working hard and going into painting and just growing with it,” he said. “They have interpreted the project very well.”

His work is internationally collected and has been on display at the Pendleton Art Center. The foundation offers art workshops usually during breaks from school. The budding artists worked over Thanksgiving to create a mural inside the Middletown Community Center. Sue Whittman, president of the Art Central Foundation, said the mural, which has taken about a month to materialize, may have started a movement.

“I wanted to start doing more public art with the kids, I think it really gives them a sense of ownership in the community…,” she said. “I anticipate this is going to be the first of many of these projects downtown. We’ve been approached by several other organizations and businesses.”

Julie Vogelsang, 14, who goes to John XXIII Catholic School, said she was thrilled to be a part of the project.

“It’s been fun, it’s really special,” she said. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to paint a mural.”

Johnston, who was the adult in charge of the mural project, said he tried to mimic Eliades’ work on the side wall of the building. The mural projects are perfect for the kids, he said.

“I enjoy working with the kids and I wanted to make sure they continued to have good workshops,” he said.