Schools

Art Flourishes Along a Quiet Watertown Path

Watertown High School students have been working on a mural along the Linear Park this summer.

Through blazing heat and dealing with the aftermath of rainstorms, a group of Watertown teens have brought vibrant colors to a wall that was once dingy and graffiti covered.

The mural on the path between Whites and Waverley avenues - the Linear Park - was the brainchild of a number of groups in town, including the Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee and Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment, led by Deb Peterson and Janet Jameson.

Since July 1, the students have been out there bringing scenes of Watertown alive, and in a couple weeks it will be complete.

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Planning the Mural

Gregg Bernstein, the artist leading the project, took photos of places and people around town suggested by Watertown residents and created a mockup of the mural. The students sketched it out and then painted the scenes.

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The students who worked on the mural are Liana Aleksanyan, Sondos Alnamous, Faiza Amin,  Marvin Aramthip, Issabela Carton, Julia Harrington, Emily Hart, Veronica Torres and Abi Vershbow

Having taken two art classes each of her first three years at the high school, Bella Carton wanted to be part of the project. She has worked on bicyclists and the marker for the Charles River Path.

“It is really coming together,” Carton said. “It looks really good.”

The scenes include landmark buildings, buses, action from Victory Field and the Charles River.

Marvin Aramthip, 15, decided to focus on the MBTA bus and an orange trolley that used to run down Mt. Auburn Street.

“I feel like I have a strong connection with the bus,” Aramthip said. “I often go to Boston on the bus and take it to Harvard Square on the 71 bus.”

Abi Versbow lives next to Victory Field, so she decided to work on that section. She also goes to the Watertown Children’s Theatre a lot, so she took on that section, too.

Architecture interests Liana Alexsanyan, and she painted a building from the Watertown Arsenal.

“I used a stick to help me with the windows, because the wall is very textured,” Alexsanyan said. “The whole fence, I did by free hand.”

For the Love of Art (and Community Service Credit)

The students will not get paid for working on the mural, but they will get community service credit, a graduation requirement at Watertown High School.

Bernstein visited art classes at WHS to find students to work on the mural. Veronica Torres was one of those students.
“One of my old art teachers told me about it and wanted me to work on it, so I did,” Torres said.

She worked on the Charles River portion of the mural, including the ducks and floating lanterns from the annual Hiroshima Remembrance ceremony.

Julia Harrington has wanted to take art classes, but said her music classes conflicted. The mural seemed like a perfect opportunity, and she has found she has a talent for painting trees.

“I think it is the eye for detail and all the shading,” Harrington said. “Even when I draw, the majority of what I do is shading. After doing this I’ve gotten better at drawing all the details.”

A grand opening will be held sometime in mid-September to celebrate the completion of the mural, Bernstein said.


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