CHS students complete turnpike plaza mural

On Dec. 4, a gathering of about 50, including Cocalico High School (CHS) students, teachers, and administrators, and representatives of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PA Turnpike), gathered at the Bowmansville Service Plaza to celebrate the installation of a new mural. The mural was created by CHS students based on a partnership between PCA, PA Turnpike, and the South Central PaARTners at Millersville University. The mural is a project of Art Sparks, which provides an artist to complete a 20-day residency with students who collaborate on creating a piece of artwork for a nearby service plaza.

West Reading artist Mike Miller, himself a Lancaster County native, whose parents live in Gap, collaborated with the students to brainstorm, develop, draw, and ultimately install the screen-printed mural in the travel plaza. Miller worked with a dozen students under the instruction of Sandra McCarthy, CHS art department chair, and Caleb Smith, CHS art teacher.

The mural uses a traditional quilt pattern as the background, but it also features symbols associated with local heritage, including a pretzel, a covered bridge, the Fulton Theatre, and the familiar green dragon that is symbolic of the Ephrata farmers market. According to Julie Pyle Childs, interim program manager with the South Central PaARTners, Miller and the students collaborated to design the mural. "(Miller asked students), 'What is it about your area that you love so much?'" she explained.

The program opened with CHS music teacher Kristin Diehl leading the school choir in two songs.

Mark Compton, CEO, PA Turnpike Commission, spoke first, explaining why Art Sparks murals have been installed in 17 plazas across the state. "We've got 250,000 visitors that come through this location every year," explained Compton. "That's 500,000 eyes that will view this art, which will show them what is on the other side of the fence behind us - the great things we have to showcase. What better way to do that than through the eyes of our students?"

Compton introduced Susan S. Cohen, council chair of PCA, who said that the partnership began in 2017 with the goal of enhancing the visitor experience along the turnpike. Cohen pointed out that the CHS students incorporated history, industry, and wildlife from the Southeastern region and that the students had created something that they can show their family, friends, and, eventually, their children.

CHS principal Scott Bennetch also spoke, noting that he had seen an Art Sparks installation at a service plaza prior to receiving an email on June 20 asking for CHS students to take part in creating one. "I knew this was an opportunity to take advantage of, and I could not be prouder of the teamwork that went into creating this amazing wall panel." Bennetch noted that the project introduced students to a creative process that took them from brainstorming to finalizing a plan to creating artwork, which taught lessons in communication, compromise, and problem solving.

Miller spoke detailing the importance of teaching students collaboration and how to blend their individual voices into a unified concept that is pleasing to the public. When Smith spoke, he named the dozen students who completed the project.

One of those students, junior Michael Zepp, discussed how the opportunity to work on the mural affected his outlook. "A travel plaza is a place of community and culture," he explained. "To others, our land is foreign." Zepp went on to detail how the panels of the mural tell the story of rural Lancaster County. He noted how the students brought together concept sketches and photographs. "We are one of three U.S. states with a notable Amish population," he said, adding that what is commonplace to area residents may spark curiosity in visitors to the state. "(This project) taught us valuable information about our state ... and gave us the opportunity to see a whole new side of the art field through murals," he said.