MUKILTEO — Community gardens have such a wholesome, down-to-earth vibe. They’re gathering spots for green-thumbed friends and places where fresh produce grows in abundance, to be donated to local food banks.
It made well-known local artist Christine Awad Schmalz wonder: Why not give it a little artistic pizazz?
Schmalz asked some of the students from her private art studio class if they’d be interested in painting a mural on a shed at the Mukilteo Community Garden. On Saturday, they took on the task.
The students ranged in age from 13 to 16. “I was thrilled to have my students, who are very talented, volunteer for this project,” she said.
Dode Carlson, board president of the community garden, said it was a project she had talked to Schmalz about for nearly two years. “She’s busy, I’m busy,” Carlson said of how the time got by. “The hang-up has been our schedules.”
Carlson said the storage shed recently got a new roof. She told Schmalz that she would like to have the name of the community garden included in the mural. “After that, do what you want,” she said.
Saturday’s project began with the students walking through the garden. “Just draw what we see and use your own creativity,” Schmalz told her students. “I let them design the whole thing.”
The students started out with a bit of an artistic handicap. There was no yellow paint, a primary color. “That was tough,” Schmalz said. So they used what they had — orange, red, green and brown. “We had a very limited pallet to work with,” she said.
One side of the shed was decorated with the name of the garden surrounded by a white picket fence, flowers, a pumpkin, vines, hearts and stars.
The front of the shed has two large sunflowers, bean stalks that visually climb up the side of the building and tomatoes and peppers at the bottom.
Sarah Forrester, 16, a student at Kamiak High School, said she’s taken art classes led by Schmalz since she was in fourth grade. Forrester said she decided to join the project because “I love doing any kind of art project, especially if it would benefit the community in some way.”
Laura Campbell, 15, who also attends Kamiak High School, was another volunteer. “I like that there’s a community service aspect to it,” she said. “Also my friends are involved. And I like the art part of it. Everything all combined I enjoy.”
Schmalz said most of her students had never been to the community garden before, which is at 8227 44th Ave. W. In addition to sprucing up the shed, Schmalz said she hopes the project will bring more attention to the garden, which is always in need of volunteers.
The garden’s shed was “like this big canvas on which you can do anything you want,” she said.
“I’ve always wanted to do this,” she said. “We all agreed we would love to do another one.”
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
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