Mission accomplished on tunnel mural
Georgia Leeman takes part as Woolwich Central School’s first and fourth graders apply the finishing touch to students' mural in the pedestrian tunnel. The entire K thru eighth grade student body took part. PHIL DI VECE/Wiscasset Newspaper
WCS Art Teacher Laura Devin gives final instructions to the students. A school fundraiser was held to buy paint and brushes for the project. PHIL DI VECE/Wiscasset Newspaper
Like all true artists, the children signed their names alongside their handprints. PHIL DI VECE/Wiscasset Newspaper
After adding their handprints and names to the tunnel mural first and fourth grade students of the Woolwich Central School posed for a picture on the tunnel steps with art teacher Laura Devin. PHIL DI VECE/Wiscasset Newspaper
Georgia Leeman takes part as Woolwich Central School’s first and fourth graders apply the finishing touch to students' mural in the pedestrian tunnel. The entire K thru eighth grade student body took part. PHIL DI VECE/Wiscasset Newspaper
WCS Art Teacher Laura Devin gives final instructions to the students. A school fundraiser was held to buy paint and brushes for the project. PHIL DI VECE/Wiscasset Newspaper
Like all true artists, the children signed their names alongside their handprints. PHIL DI VECE/Wiscasset Newspaper
After adding their handprints and names to the tunnel mural first and fourth grade students of the Woolwich Central School posed for a picture on the tunnel steps with art teacher Laura Devin. PHIL DI VECE/Wiscasset Newspaper
The weather was perfect Tuesday when Woolwich Central School students gathered to finish their mural on the walls of pedestrian tunnel. The select board and school officials are working together for a planned dedication on June 14, Flag Day.
Located beneath Route 1 near the Tanner Square Memorial, the tunnel provides a safe way for pedestrians and bicyclists to get from one side of the busy highway to the other. Over the past month, the town has been sprucing up the grounds around the tunnel, along with the tunnel itself that had fallen victim to vandalism.
WCS art teacher Laura Devin supervised the mural project that involved almost all of the school’s students. The picture on the tunnel’s cement walls is a series of trees against a blue wavy background representing the water. The finishing touch was the schoolchildren adding their painted handprints to serve as leaves on the trees and then signing their names.
Jack A. Shaw & Sons of Woolwich and the Bath Bus Service of Bath split the cost of bus transportation for the students. A number of parents turned out to watch the students at work Tuesday. Also on hand was Selectman Allison Hepler.
One week earlier, the tunnel was the subject of news reports over whether or not the state would let the project go on.
Maine Department of Transportation didn't communicate well enough that the tunnel was not to be painted, MDOT spokesman Ted Talbot said Friday. He said the agency would not block the mural and will not remove it.
If the tunnel ever has structural work, that could impact the mural, but otherwise, it will remain, Talbot said.
Painting was about two-thirds done when MDOT called Hepler and told her it had to stop. Then a news reporter told her MDOT was allowing it.
The tunnel wasn't supposed to be painted because paint can affect inspections, but MDOT's communication of that was not adequate, Talbot said.
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