Parkland School District’s Orefield Middle School Mural and Art Program announces the construction and hanging of The Spirit of Hope Mural located on 9th and Tilghman Sts. in Allentown. Installation of the mural starts today and is being done by Mural Garden Artists and Parkland School District students with project completion to be celebrated on Dedication Day, currently planned for 5:30 PM on June 24th (weather dependent). It is the city’s first three-dimensional mural.

A Community Day, designed to raise awareness about the project and arts in the city, takes place on June 23 from 4-7pm. .

For the past eight years, more than 330 Orefield Middle School students and 150 others from various community agencies worked under the instruction of Kristi Robbins, Orefield Middle School art teacher, to create a mural that they hope will impact the people in the Lehigh Valley community.

“Students each year do all their own brainstorming, sketching, painting, and mosaic work with their original ideas. They have always been encouraged to put meaning and symbolism in their art – so we thought it would be even more thoughtful if we pushed the art talent beyond the walls of our own school,” said Robbins “The students wanted the mural to be in a place where people who might not go out of there way to see art, would still be able to appreciate the art coming to them- for them!”

Working as an interface to the community, members of the Mural Garden organization teamed with the students to lend project management support, help facilitate the installation, and provide community relations. “Works like The Spirit of Hope Mural Project, weave arts into our community and instill a sense of pride,” said Norberto Dominguez, project manager for Mural Garden. “Works like this bring communities together and help make our neighborhoods safer.”

Orefield students will be collaborating with Allentown residents to set the mural in an effort to unite the two through the power of community art. Matt Halm, professional muralist and Joseph Hernandez, masonry contractor, will lend their expertise during installation. This mural will be Allentown, PA’s first three-dimensional mural. The United Way, Parkland School District Education Foundation, and supportive members of the Lehigh Valley community have made funding for the project possible. For more information on the mural project please click SpiritofHopeMural.