It is always a sign that a building is nearing completion when the art begins to be placed on the walls. In the case of the new Greenville YMCA, that’s what’s happening. Despite construction still being underway, Amanda Phillips executive director of the YMCA, is seeing her rooms come to life.

&uot;It’s become like a competition,&uot; said Phillips. &uot;Everybody is walking around looking in rooms and seeing what the other people have in their room and how it’s painted and everything.&uot;

Thursday afternoon, another room began to take shape thanks to students from Greenville High School’s Art 4 Class taught by Stacey Edwards.

The room they were painting was selected by Susan Murphy.

&uot;Dr. Kathy Murphy dropped by one night to look around and Susan was here working,&uot; said Phillips. &uot;Susan said that she was not an artistic person and asked Dr. Murphy could get her high school kids to come over and help her paint the room because she is not an artistic person.&uot;

The painting came together as a mural of downtown Greenville., which consisted of the Courthouse, Post Office, Ritz Theatre and the Catholic Church along with streets, trees, sidewalks and people.

Shannon Leuitzinger worked on the sign over the Ritz Theatre, while Casey Huggins worked on the black top leaving the courthouse. Joe Duncan was also working on roads. His leads to the Catholic Church, and Cherie Mills gave the Post office bricks a red color. Kelcius Savage was also in on the artwork, rotating from painting the courthouse roof to painting the brown branches and limbs in a tree before giving it it’s summer foliage.

Willie Brooks worked on getting the roof of the courthouse the right shade and color before moving and working on the road leading to the Catholic Church.

&uot;We plan to be finished with this by 3:30,&uot; said Savage. &uot;What we don’t get done, Mrs. Edwards will come and finish.&uot;

Greenville High School’s Stacey Edwards was there the night before with a sketch of the mural laying on top of an overhead projector as she sketched it onto the wall.

&uot;The mural’s content was a rather easy decision to make,&uot; said Ewards. &uot;We decided

in a day to paint the familiar landmarks of Greenville.

In Art I we spend a lot of time learning about perspective.

So we knew a linear perspective painting of downtown Greenville would be a showstopper. I devised the plan on how to arrange it on the wall and did the initial drawings. The students arrived on Thursday to bring my vision to life, and oh did they ever. Being these kids’ teacher, I know the talent that each of them have.

Regrettably they don’t always live up to it in class so when I walked into that room I was blown away. I am so proud of what they have created at the Y.

It is also very rewarding for them to be recognized.

I think I am most proud of how they have represented their art department and their school.

This single project shows what unbelievable teenagers we have in this city. Seeing artwork, like what is produced by these young adults, make artists like myself better at what I do.

My hope is that our city realizes that the

heart of Greenville’s art community is alive and well at Greenville High

School.&uot;

Murphy’s room will house after school activities and Summer Daycamp.

But her room is just one of the many themed rooms that the New YMCA is currently welcoming.

Crowne Healthcare’s room has a farm theme with a John Deere Tractor, barn and horse on one wall and a Tree with a tire swing painted onto the corner wall. Camellia Communications decided to make their room an underwater theme with fish, sharks, a boat, anchors and a treasure chest. They even have an octopus painted on the wall where the mirrors will be located. Their room will also serve as the Aerobics room when not being used by children.

The Junior Women’s League had children on their mind when they painted the library a banana yellow. They also brought their children to provide the bright wall with splashes of color. Color in the shape of young handprints no higher than three feet off the ground.

As Phillips pointed out, it’s right at kid level.

&uot;It’s awesome,&uot; said Phillips. &uot;It’s so good to see the community coming together for a cause like this. The other night we had Wal-Mart, Ms. Murphy, the fire department, Camellia Communications, Kiwanis and Centurytel all working together. It’s like everybody that comes here enjoys working and going from room to room.&uot;

Members of the Greenville High art program aren’t the only students pitching in to help out. David Hartman and his Building Construction students have also been involved in painting the men’s locker room and have been changing ceiling tiles.

Phillips plans to open up part of the Y as early as the 18th of January.

&uot;On January the 10th, we have two 18-wheelers pulling up to load stuff into,&uot; said Phillips.

Susan Murphy: