Oak Street School Mural Project Celebrates Township Anniversaries

The hallways of Oak Street Elementary School are starting to look like one of the world's biggest coloring books.

Thanks to local artist Caren Frost Olmsted and the Oak Street Parent Teacher Organization, the school is conducting a "mural project" spanning over one hundred feet of hallway walls adjacent to the school's cafeteria.

The project was commissioned to honor Bernard's Township's 250th anniversary this year and Oak Street School's 70th anniversary this past November.

"We wanted to do something to commemorate the two events," Christine Corrigan, Vice President of Cultural Arts for the Oak Street PTO said. "And we all felt strongly that the kids should be involved in whatever it was."

Corrigan knew of Olmsted because their sons take taekwondo classes at the same martial arts school. And after the idea of doing a mural came about, Olmsted seemed like the perfect fit.

Olmsted drew the outline of the mural on the walls last week, leaving white space for the children at the school to paint, much like a kid's coloring book. The plan is to have each child at the school take a turn painting part of the mural, which depicts everything from famous landmarks around town to farms scenes and representations of the school itself.

"The kids are beyond excited," Olmsted said. "They [were] watching me as I was creating the outline and drawing everything out. The excitement from the children is just amazing. They are just adorable… their faces light up."

Parent volunteers have been coming into the school this week to paint the sky sections of the mural and hard to reach places, and two classes of children a day will start to paint the mural starting on Monday, Feb. 1. The project should be completed after three weeks of student painting.

For more information about the artist, readers can visit Olmsted's art and design website at www.cfodesign.com.

"I used to be an art teacher, and then I when I had my first child I realized that spending time with him was really paramount to me. Then I realized I could be an artist too," Olmsted said. "I took my own advice that I had always been giving my students to 'follow your dreams and follow your passion'."

She currently works as a professional mural painter and illustrator, working with nationwide chains such as Whole Foods to do murals and also illustrating her first children's book last year.