Mauldin High School Senior to Paint Mural at Cultural Center
Mauldin High School senior, Celine Crum, will be painting a large mural outside at the Mauldin Cultural Center. Celine is a member of Furman University’s Emerging Public Leaders program, and is also a student at the Fine Arts Center. As a part of the EPL program at Furman, participants must complete a service project that addresses a certain need in their community.
“An issue that I have noticed within the community of Mauldin is that we are lacking the display of student artwork. Along with attending Mauldin High School, I also attend the Fine Arts Center, so I am aware of the promising student artists in the community who would love to have their artwork displayed in Mauldin,” Crum says in her Artist Statement.
Celine approached George McLeer, administrator for the Office of Cultural Affairs, about placing a mural at the Mauldin Cultural Center earlier this fall.
“When someone takes the initiative, especially when it’s a student, to engage in their community and offer a creative solution, we are all ears,” McLeer said. “The Mauldin Cultural Center is a place where the community can express themselves and this mural project was a perfect fit.”
The design, modeled after the infamous “Starry Night” by Vincent Van Gogh, is meant to highlight the creative nature of children and to encourage us all to embrace it. “I would like the mural to serve as a statement that creativity should be fostered during childhood, the most impressionable time of one’s life. Children are the most creative members of the community, and it is the adults’ job to encourage this creativity throughout their lives,” she says.
McLeer says that having a current Mauldin High senior create a piece of artwork on the walls of the former Mauldin High School, now the Mauldin Cultural Center, is a great full circle moment.
“Having a current MHS student return back to the roots of our community to make it better, means a lot not only to us here at the Cultural Center, but for all of those who walked these hallways when the facility was Mauldin High School and then Mauldin Elementary School,” said McLeer.
Celine also believes Mauldin is ready for an even stronger arts scene. “Beyond just children, the mural is intended to inspire the whole community of Mauldin to further delve into their creative sides and literally become a part of the arts. I would love to see an artistic movement in Mauldin, and I believe that it could start here.”
George McLeer could not agree more, “We have worked hard over the years to make the arts grow in Mauldin. Celine’s mural not only shows us that we’ve made great strides, but also inspires us to do so much more.”
The mural will be painted by Celine and other volunteers on December 5. It will be located on the exterior wall of the Mauldin Cultural Center facing Murray Drive and the historic cabin also on-site.