Click here to hear the story of the Community Murals Project

When Geoff Schenkel first started painting murals with 300 kids from Harmar Elementary School in Marietta, Ohio he never dreamed it would turn into a three-year project. Schenkel began working with kids from Harmar School in December, 1993. The purpose of the mural project was to visually connect the town's past and present through a series of drawings. But it turned out to be much more. Each child contributed something to the murals, a ray of sunlight from one kid or a wispy cloud lacing through the sky from another. And the community of Marietta was bound together in important ways. Each panel grew to represent the hard work, and diverse contributions of the community. In fact, the project was so successful, Rural Action, a non-profit organization decided to sponsor Schenkel's vision. The next stop for the project was Main street in the small-town of Shawnee, Ohio. There, Schenkel worked with kids from a youth summer camp to depict Shawnee's present and future in the murals.

Three years and several cans of paint later, the project has spanned into other small Ohio communities. Shenkle is currently working with Trimble Local School District, collecting drawings from elementary students in Trimble, Ohio. Murals are in the works for the towns of Jacksonville and Glouster, Ohio. Eventually, Rural Action envisions creating an "Appalachian corridor" of murals.

With only a vision, patience, creativity and some blank space, communities, kids and artists came together to create the murals. They represent the daily lives, dreams and diversities of the community.