Thanks to David Fichter, one morning in August 2018 I got to visit the Mystic River Mural team at work in the Mystic Activity Center.  Their focus for that summer was mushrooms and fungi. My photos from a few moments hint at the numerous hours of planning, researching, sketching, designing, projecting, shaping, painting and much much more by teens and adults involved in the project. Outdoor explorations along the river were key features of the project, but indoor studio time was key to creating the mural panels added to the ongoing mural outdoors along Mystic Avenue.

Indoors:  

Teen artists painting mural with focus on mushrooms and fungi.

Teen artists painting mushrooms and fungi.

Overview includes David Fichter attaching a cut-out section. Panel at far left is from an earlier Mystic River Mural project with focus on climate change.

Outdoors: 

• “Since 1996 David Fichter and local youth have produced between 6-9 4′ x 8′ panels, many with cutouts above.  And each year our partner Mass Highways gets them up on the retaining wall of I-93 along Mystic Avenue.”  (quote from Somerville Arts Council statement about The Mural)

Slideshow:

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Repaired panel from earlier year with climate-change theme:

Background and Context:

MYSTIC RIVER MURAL PROJECT IS AN IMPRESSIVE ONGOING STORY*

Mural Process for Mystic River Mural Project on David Fichter’s website

Link to YouTube video: Eco-Mural: Mystic River Mural, Somerville, MA, USA

“We Are All Connected” Mystic River Watershed, MA Anne S. Katzeff

*my post from Art Outdoors in Sept. 2018 with overview and links about the Mystic River Mural Project