Youth mural coming soon
A new mural by local youth.
A youth mural backed by the nonprofit Medford Health Matters will soon hang outside Hillside Cleaners, at Boston Avenue and Winthrop Street. The artists and Medford Health staffers began transferring the mural to the wall last week and hope to finish the job soon.
Medford Health received a state grant to fund the project, which began July 1 when eight youths aged 11 to 18 started brainstorming, along with Woburn-based muralist Mike Parker. They've produced a 12-by-35 foot mural that includes two large, multicolored faces.
"A group of youth got together and discussed issues and thoughts that they have
about Medford," said Nikole Roome-Torres, a Medford Health board member and project coordinator, in an email.
They used several materials, Roome-Torres said, including a "ladder, primer, paint, brushes, anti-graffiti sealer, computer, projector, lots of discussion and thought."
But the project hit a snag on Tuesday, when Roome-Torres and her team discovered that vandals had tagged the wall, wrecking the outline for the mural. The artists have placed a tarp over the area to keep the graffiti squad away at night, while they complete the transfer of the mural.
"The graffiti in Medford is escalating," Roome-Torres said. "Right now it is worse than it's ever been."
But that hasn't dampened her spirits.
"As a group Medford Health Matters is in the process of creating a new identity, becoming more active in Medford," Roome-Torres said. "And we saw this as a great opportunity to become active and really organize a great piece of artwork for the city. All with the direction of some amazing kids in the community."
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