Mural Adds Beauty to Downtown Stuart

MCHS Mural Artists

Tom Winter

The Prescription Shop Mural adds Beauty to Downtown Stuart

By Jackie Holfelder

T

he mural that graces the wall on The Prescription Shop in downtown Stuart is much more than a mesmerizing and fascinating work of art. It also demonstrates what is possible when people with a similar vision work towards a goal selflessly and without ego.

Kim Jones has owned The Prescription Shop, located just west of the roundabout at the intersection of MLK Boulevard and Colorado Avenue, for five years. Every morning when she pulled into the parking lot and saw the big blank wall, she thought what an improvement it would be if she could get some students to paint on it to perk it up.

Considering that the wall is 70-feet long and between 12-14 feet high, Kim knew it couldn’t be a casual little project.

She approached Amanda Jones (no relation), an art teacher at Martin County High School (MCHS) in 2016, but Amanda was involved with another project and couldn’t undertake the mural.

In January, 2018 Amanda, joined by fellow MCHS art teacher Bryan Johnson, met again with Kim. The store owner was still enthused and definitely wanted to go ahead with the mural, stressing it should be the brainchild of the students.

She repeated her willingness for them to paint anything they wanted, so long as it was tasteful.

Thus began a process that would result in work on the mural finally beginning on October 20, 2018. On December 29, 2018 the impressive work of art was completed. During that period, volunteers worked on the project virtually every weekend.

In the intervening months, there were many tasks that needed to be undertaken, although one major one was not met with enthusiastic support.

After making the decision to have the history of Stuart as the subject, Bryan decided to take the lead art students to the Feed Store (the Stuart Heritage Museum) located on Flagler Street to do research and get ideas about what should be included in the painting. He recalled that initially they had some difficulty buying into history as the theme, but after discovering so many fascinating details about the area, they became more and more enthusiastic.

Simultaneously, says Amanda, the nuts and bolts of the permitting process needed to be attended to. She had the young artists participate every step of the way. The end result was that they all learned so much about Art in Public Places that what could have been a tedious process became a great learning experience.

As the project unrolled and the mural

4 MartinArts | Spring | Summer 2019

MCHS Mural Artists

Tom Winter

started garnering attention, many student-painters and other volunteers participated. There were three MCHS art students were involved in every facet of planning and implementing the painting: 18-year old Hannah Ball, 16-year old Nick Currenti and 15-year old Erin Whelpley. The three are members of the National Art Honor Society and advanced students in MCHS art program.

Selecting what to include in the mural was no easy task. Although Stuart isn’t terribly old by international standards, it has a rich and diverse history that begs to be told.

Ultimately, Amanda, Bryan, Nick, Erin and Hannah chose to paint likenesses of a sailfish, rays of sun, Felix A. Williams, 500 East Ocean Boulevard, pineapples, The Feed Store, Dade County Pine (used to build many homes in early Stuart), Governor John W. Martin meeting with a Seminole chief, The House of Refuge, Hubert Bessey, a sign reading “Potsdam” (the former name of Stuart), Trapper Nelson and a chrysanthemum.

A formidable amount of work needed to be done and Hannah recalls they were concerned they weren’t going to meet the deadline. But Nick says the philosophy of all the painters was “if you see something that needs to be done, just do it” and they finished on time.

The height of the wall necessitated use of scaffolding, motorized lifts and other equipment and Bryan shares that in addition to donating the

wall and the moral support, Kim Jones paid to rent everything.

Bryan, Amanda and Kim can’t stress enough how many people in Stuart and Martin County jumped on board, helping the process along in a variety of ways. Stuart City Commissioner Eula Clarke was instrumental in getting the city’s Minor Code Registration Fee waived.

Regal Paint Center donated nearly all the Benjamin Moore Paint. And local mural expert Brenda Leigh lent her expertise and keen eye as she painted one day. Regal will also be donating the clear coat that will be applied to protect the painting from the elements. Lights are to be added so that the mural is visible at night.

The experience was a positive and gratifying one for everyone involved. For her part, Kim Jones – the mother of two high school students – says she loved seeing the young artists’ passion fueled.

Bryan Johnson says the generosity of Stuart businesses, residents and government officials played a key role in the success of the project. Amanda Jones, who had never worked on a mural of this scope, says the entire experience was, “totally cool.”

Nick Currenti says it was a lot of fun working on the mural and seeing the amazing number of volunteer painters (including his own mom) who turned out.

Spring | Summer 2019 | MartinArts 5