OXFORD, N.S. – Oxford has a colourful arts community and those colours popped off the page following the recent unveiling of a 16x12-foot mural in Oxford.
“It’s really exciting,” Jada Ripley said. “It’s really nice to have something up here that expresses the arts.”
Ripley designed the mural for a contest initiated by Ruth Collins, director of Cumberland Performing Arts. She won the contest, and now her design hangs on the wall outside the building at 9 Water Street on Blueberry Corner in Oxford.
Ripley needed only two days to sketch the design but transferring the design onto a 16x12 canvas took her and Julia Gill about four weeks of painting in the basement of the Oxford Church of the Nazarene.
Gill is also very happy with the finished product.
“I’m proud of the girl with the red hair. It took me a long time to do all the hair on that one, and Jada did a really good job on the instruments,” Gill said. “It’s exciting to finally see it up on the wall, but It’s a long process and I’ll probably take a break from painting for a while.”
It took four men about two hours to mount the mural to the wall, and Collins said she is thrilled with the final product.
“I love the colours. They’re very vibrant and look awesome.”
Following the unveiling members of Cumberland Performing Arts sang songs and danced.
Ripley is 15-years-old and enters Grade 11 at Amherst Regional High School this year, and Gill is 18-years-old and starts her first year of studies at Mount Allison University this year.
