It was just past 5 p.m.
last Thursday evening, downstairs at the Somerville Boys & Girls
Club, the din of the after-school crowd fading as the evening wore on.
Jeam-Louis, 11, a six grader at Prospect Hill Academy Charter School,
was enjoying this time with the paints, as he likes his art classes at
school. But this is the first time that he has worked on a public
project that will forever grace Union Square.

Under the
direction of local artist Tova Speter, a group of seven students-hand
selected by the Somerville Boys & Girls Club for showing the most
interest-have been working for the past two months on a 24- by 12-foot
six-piece mural (each panel is four- by eight feet) that will serve as
the new sign for the Somerville Boys & Girls Club. They plan to
finish the mural shortly after the New Year. Funding for the mural came
from the Somerville Target store.

"I enjoy working with the
community," Jeam-Louis said. "It's pretty neat that when this sign is
done, I'll know that I was one of the people who worked on it."

Grace
Stewart, 13, an eighth-grader at Prospect Hill Academy, sat nearby,
hunched over the black background for the middle panel, the piece
comprised of varying hues of greens and yellows.

"This is more
of a group effort than a school project, so to me it's about all of us
being together," she said, referring to the group of students who
carefully painted around her. She smiled as she had to admit that she
typically doesn't like painting because it's so messy, but through the
project she has learned what it's like to have fun with art.

Speter
perked up when she heard Stewart's comment, as part of working with the
community on projects like this is about exposing children to the world
of art. A trained art therapist who has worked on community projects
all over the area, Speter worked with the Somerville Boys & Girls
Club to create a diversity mural two years ago.

The diversity
mural used to hang outside the Somerville police station in Union
Square, but was moved across the street to the Boys & Girls Club a
few months ago. It can't be missed, the colorful piece rendered from
the images of the students' faces, as one drives into Union Square. The
new sign features similar colors-as Speter wanted the two murals to
align together-and will hang next to the diversity piece.

Scarlett
Rauch, 14, an eighth grader at Prospect Hill Academy, had also worked
on the diversity mural. She said this project has been a great
opportunity to catch up with the others.

For Polyanna Silva,
16, of Malden High School, working on the mural is a welcomed departure
from the demands of high school-finals, MCAS. She also enjoys working
in the community and catching up with her Somerville peers. At home in
Malden she helps out with the big Fourth of July party in the park and
volunteers for school functions.

"Plus, working on a project
like this, it doesn't matter where you are from, how your talk, who you
are; which is what the Boys & Girls Club is all about," said Silva,
who also worked on the diversity mural.

Speter added that she
enjoys working in the Somerville community. She lives in Cambridge, but
has a studio at Vernon Street, so she identifies herself as a
Somerville artist.

"There's such a strong arts community here
that is so accepting about involvement," said Speter, who has worked on
other community projects over the years, including the Lexington Park
mural in 2007, the pedestrian walkway connecting Beacon Street to
Somerville Avenue (with JFK Elementary School students) and a switch
box by Dali Restaurant on the corner of Washington and Beacon Streets.