Somerville Boys & Girls Club Mural Combines Art and Community

By Julia Fairclough Guerschom Jeam-Louis' mouth was set in a firm line of concentration as he leaned on his side and painted lime green-colored jagged lines on the mural panel that stretched across the floor. It was just past 5 p.m. last Thursday evening, downstairs at the Somerville Boys & Girls Club, the din of the after-school crowd fading as the evening wore on. Jeam-Louis, 11, a six grader at Prospect Hill Academy Charter School, was enjoying this time with the paints, as he likes his art classes at school. But this is the first time that he has worked on a public project that will forever grace Union Square. Under the direction of local artist Tova Speter, a group of seven students-hand selected by the Somerville Boys & Girls Club for showing the most interest-have been working for the past two months on a 24- by 12-foot six-piece mural (each panel is four- by eight feet) that will serve as the new sign for the Somerville Boys & Girls Club. They plan to finish the mural shortly after the New Year. Funding for the mural came from the Somerville Target store. "I enjoy working with the community," Jeam-Louis said. "It's pretty neat that when this sign is done, I'll know that I was one of the people who worked on it." Grace Stewart, 13, an eighth-grader at Prospect Hill Academy, sat nearby, hunched over the black background for the middle panel, the piece comprised of varying hues of greens and yellows. "This is more of a group effort than a school project, so to me it's about all of us being together," she said, referring to the group of students who carefully painted around her. She smiled as she had to admit that she typically doesn't like painting because it's so messy, but through the project she has learned what it's like to have fun with art. Speter perked up when she heard Stewart's comment, as part of working with the community on projects like this is about exposing children to the world of art. A trained art therapist who has worked on community projects all over the area, Speter worked with the Somerville Boys & Girls Club to create a diversity mural two years ago. The diversity mural used to hang outside the Somerville police station in Union Square, but was moved across the street to the Boys & Girls Club a few months ago. It can't be missed, the colorful piece rendered from the images of the students' faces, as one drives into Union Square. The new sign features similar colors-as Speter wanted the two murals to align together-and will hang next to the diversity piece. Scarlett Rauch, 14, an eighth grader at Prospect Hill Academy, had also worked on the diversity mural. She said this project has been a great opportunity to catch up with the others. For Polyanna Silva, 16, of Malden High School, working on the mural is a welcomed departure from the demands of high school-finals, MCAS. She also enjoys working in the community and catching up with her Somerville peers. At home in Malden she helps out with the big Fourth of July party in the park and volunteers for school functions. "Plus, working on a project like this, it doesn't matter where you are from, how your talk, who you are; which is what the Boys & Girls Club is all about," said Silva, who also worked on the diversity mural. Speter added that she enjoys working in the Somerville community. She lives in Cambridge, but has a studio at Vernon Street, so she identifies herself as a Somerville artist. "There's such a strong arts community here that is so accepting about involvement," said Speter, who has worked on other community projects over the years, including the Lexington Park mural in 2007, the pedestrian walkway connecting Beacon Street to Somerville Avenue (with JFK Elementary School students) and a switch box by Dali Restaurant on the corner of Washington and Beacon Streets. She has also worked on murals in Arlington, Dorchester and Jamaica Plain.