Erma Bombeckfamouslysaid, "When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single drop of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me.' " Bombeck's words were echoed by faculty who encouraged munity understand more about what makes White County what it is," senior David Towell said. "I believe that painting on buildings lends a hand to revitalizing the community, instead of having just blank walls. I would hope that more spaces would become available on other parts of Searcy to paint 'life.' " Searcy residents did not let the artwork go unnoticed. "We have received tons of encouragement from locals who their students to use every bit of talent they had and not to wait for a diploma before they began bettering the world. ,------------------, stopped by as we worked," Adams In that spirit, the graphic arts department decided to pool their talents for projects in the White County community, as well as on a larger scale in the nation of Ghana. Professor Daniel Adams began taking art students overseas to Ghana in 2007, and in preparation for the trip he found projects for the students to do in White County dealing with artistic design and painting. said. "We even had a policeman come by every so often to photograph the different stages of our progress.'' This project also helped those who felt unexperienced in the painting aspect of art. That was where the North Spruce Street murals began. After speaking to the county judge in the spring of 2010, Adams was given the task of painting the eight blank squares on North Spruce Street in downtown Searcy. "I love living in Searcy," Adams said. "God has given me the talent to enhance The mural focuses on everything from industry to health care to agriculture and natural gas. Professor of art ond music Daniel Adams hoped to help people understand th_e important aspects of White County Ashe/ Parsons "I had never painted before," junior Katherine Kilpatrick said. "So this project really prepared me for Ghana. I have a steady hand, so I was able to trace out the black outlines of the murals. The large scale of the painting also gave me an idea of what I would be doing in Ghana.'' Towell, who helped with all four murals in 2010, anticipated his trip to Ghana to help out with the Village of Hope again. "The purpose of the trip is to ... paint the community through art so I can give something back to the town that does not cost it anything.'' For the panels, Adams designed murals that represented different aspects of White County, from agriculture to medicine to oil and gas. Each mural was a specific color with various shades and hues throughout. Adams's goal was to finish two of the murals before the group left for Ghana in the summer of 2011. "I think that having these specific murals will help people murals, interact with children and be a light shin.i.n~}or our Lord," Towell said. "I am really looking forward to tbis trip because I will get to serve God doing what I love to do: designing work and getting to interact with the kids.'' These students not only used their talents to help both nearby Searcy and faraway Ghana, but they used every drop of their gifts and paint buckets to glorify God. john Mark Adkison art/ music 16 7
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