Asheville Catholic School second-graders add texture to the tree trunk depicted in a mural on the garden shed at St. Eugene Church in Asheville. ASHEVILLE — A uniquely colorful, fun and vibrant mural was recently created for the shed at St. Eugene Parish’s Jardín de la Amistad/Friendship Garden. The mural artists, students from the neighboring Asheville Catholic School, are led by their enterprising and extremely patient art teacher, Dr. Robin Lively.
Every student, from pre-kindergarten through the eighth grade, has added their artistic talents to the mural. While pre-kindergarten students used their paint-smeared hands to make blue butterflies, the first-graders, with their red-painted fingers, made a parade of ladybugs, and the older students added heads and details to the ladybugs. Color, highlights and a black outline for the tree trunk were the work of the second-graders.
In addition to their artistic contributions to the garden shed mural, Asheville Catholic School’s sixth-graders, under Todd Wilson’s guidance, chose the garden as their school outreach project. The garden benefited greatly by the many hours the students spent in it during the school year digging, weeding, mulching, mowing, leveling a future Peace Pole site, extracting rocks and exposing an interesting boulder.
The idea of converting the overflow parking area, which had become neglected and overgrown, into a garden came from Andrea Genna, a UNC-Asheville student. The first Joint Hispanic/Anglo garden planning session in May 2017 led to the fruits (and flowers!) people can now enjoy.
There are more projects planned for the garden, and there is always plenty of weeding to be done, so efforts are ongoing.
The Friendship Garden/Jardín de la Amistad is well established and is being used by the entire parish community. The exuberant depiction of life on the garden shed directly helps people appreciate two of the garden’s objectives: people working together to build something of beauty and creating a space where people can gather, work and play as one family in one home.
Whether you are a parishioner of St. Eugene or a visitor to Asheville, you are invited to stop by and enjoy the Jardín de la Amistad/Friendship Garden. All are welcome!
— Cynthia Gibbs and Holly Nolan, Special to the Catholic News Herald. Cynthia Gibbs is the coordinator of St. Eugene Parish’s Jardín de la Amistad/Friendship Garden, and Holly Nolan is a St. Eugene parishioner and garden volunteer.
The parish’s completed garden shed mural. (Photos provided by Cynthia Gibbs)