Mount Vernon paints a mural

MOUNT VERNON - About two-and-a-half years ago, Mount Vernon native Strider Patton returned to his hometown for a cousin's wedding. He looked out a back window of the house he grew up in and saw a 240-foot-long retaining wall.

The wall was 'always just there,” Patton said.

But Patton had spent his college years in Colorado and, at the time of the wedding, was working on a master's degree in San Francisco. He'd developed an appreciation for street art and murals.

So when he looked out that window and saw that wall, he also saw a blank canvas.

'I ... knew I wanted to do something there with the community,” Patton said.

He began brainstorming how to fill the 240-by-11-foot space in the Uptown district. Working with the Mount Vernon Area Arts Council, he raised $13,500 to pay for it.

Patton said a year abroad in Ireland and his time in San Francisco opened him up to the possibility of using characters and abstract images in mural design. He also earned his master's degree in anthropology and social change, which inspired his approach to the community mural.

'That degree is what I use to work my love of culture and story and history and connection that I really try to show in murals,” he said.

Patton wanted to include community members in the mural's design and painting. He wanted the mural, he said, to reflect the community with themes and symbols from Mount Vernon's past, present and future.

To do that, he flew back from San Francisco a few times in the past year to host workshops at the community center and Mount Vernon schools. Residents sent him hundreds of sketches showing their ideas.

'It's my job to weave together all these stories and histories and hopes and dreams into a design,” Patton said.

He broke down the mural's design into six scenes ­- a rural landscape with rolling hills and a train; two rocking chairs on a porch; a festival Ferris wheel; fireflies and a fox; the Shoe Tree outside of town with scores of shoes hanging from its branches; and a peaceful winter landscape.

Patton and his community helpers began painting the mural May 1, coinciding with Mount Vernon's Chalk the Walk festival. They unveiled their creation, south of Main Street, on Saturday.

The best part of the project, Patton said, was having 400-plus children applying exterior latex paint to the retaining wall and creating a work of art almost a block long.

'It's these community (projects) and the ones specifically with youth that mean the most to me because these kids all have a great memory of being a part of something much larger than themselves,” Patton said.

Patton said he hopes the wall becomes a touchstone for the community.

'We need to come together despite our differences,” Patton said. 'This huge mural, loaded with so much history and meaning for this town, is for everyone to enjoy. (They are) images that represent this community and give a sense that they are valued and can achieve something through cooperation that would seem impossible by themselves.”

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