Completion of mural represents a community effort

The completion of the mural project on the wall of Marbella’s in downtown Weiser was a cause for celebration on Thursday.
 Many of the community members and BEST afterschool program students that painted the individual tiles for the art project stopped by to admire the finished mural. The 10-foot by 22-foot mural can be seen from State Street and everyone agreed that it greatly enhances the downtown area.
 The artwork is actually a mosaic of many pieces of tiles with a frame that consists of complete tiles. There are 900 tiles displayed in the mural and it took about 400 hours to arrange them on the wall. They are attached to the building’s exterior with a strong and waterproof adhesive.
 The mural has been a work in progress since the idea first came up in 2016. At the time Marbella’s owner Sandy Mockwitz and BEST (Better Educated Students for Tomorrow) program directors and grant writers Renee Sweet and Megan Overgaard wanted to do a community enhancement project that featured student artwork.
 Timbra Long continued with the project when she became the BEST program director and many volunteers have helped out on the art project along the way.
 Mockwitz taught the students about mosaics and tiles were dropped off at the schools that participate in the BEST program. The BEST program students in the second through eighth grade each painted a 6-inch tile with whatever they wanted.
 The tiles were glazed and fired in batches of 30-40 at once in the kiln at Marbella’s. It took about 24 hours to fire a load of tiles. Tile nippers were used to cut some of the tiles to create the mural mosaic. The artwork for the mural was sketched out on a piece of paper and then the image was transferred to the wall with chalk.
 Mockwitz said she loves how it turned out. The mural features a sunflower and inspirational words for all: “Bloom where you are planted.” Some of the kids in the BEST program are not in the perfect situation, but all have infinite potential and can thrive and achieve, she said.
 “I go out there and look at each tile the kids painted and it makes me happy,” she said.
 Overgaard said the mural project has come a long way since the BEST program directors hauled tiles to the various schools for students to paint.
 “It’s really fun to watch the kids come and find their tile,” Overgaard said.