NATURE AWARENESS MURALS
Let Nature be Your Teacher Mural
Location: 237 Railroad Blvd - Oneonta AL 35021
Artist: Joan Babcock
Location: 237 Railroad Blvd - Oneonta AL 35021
Artist: Joan Babcock
I have been drawing portraits since 2011. That same year, after settling in Oneonta with my husband Mike, I began teaching myself how to paint and draw subjects realistically. My preferred art style is “realism” and I prefer working in acrylics and charcoal pencils. I have really enjoyed teaching myself basic art styles and techniques with different media such as colored pencils and watercolor. I opened my studio in Oneonta in 2017, then began teaching kids’ art classes. I enjoy passing on my sense of exploration and love of learning to my students. I am in no way master of any of these media or styles, but hold to the saying, 'It is much better to know something about everything than to know everything about one thing.' Originally from the Philippines, I have fallen in love with the people of Oneonta. It is definitely a great place to raise our two kids while I pursue my love of making art."
- Artist Joan Babcock
Wall size: Height 20 feet, width 11 feet (door included)
Timeline: September - November
Timeline: September - November
River Awareness Mural
Location: 62441 US-231, Cleveland, Alabama 35049
Artists: @selena2rose @0neExplorer @beckimarieart
Location: 62441 US-231, Cleveland, Alabama 35049
Artists: @selena2rose @0neExplorer @beckimarieart
Week 1

Keep an eye out. Murals will be coming to walls near you in Blount County. Friends of the Locust Fork River is sponsoring a Murals Project to beautify formerly blank spaces, and deliver a message of beauty and care.
The specific purpose of the project is to raise awareness and gratitude among us all for this gorgeous environment we get to live in!
Just think: not everybody in the world gets to look out over valleys shrouded in early morning mists, mountain ridges receding with gentle color gradations into the far distance. Not everybody sees in their daily rounds rolling pastures of hay rippling in the breeze, or towering rocky cliffs, or a winding trail dissolving into deep woods.
When we think about it, we can realize how these visions give us a sense of peace, a glimpse of deep beauty, and a feeling of balance in the world.
And through all of this beauty the Locust Fork River has been winding for a long, long time. It nourishes so much life! So many creatures depend utterly on it for water, for tiny food bits, for tasty larvae, for big fish. Its floods nourish the floodplain in timeless cycles. Its ripples and waves and torrents inspire the human soul.
Friends of the Locust Fork River intends for the murals to serve as gracious reminders of how fortunate we are in this county and how we humans need to work together to nurture and maintain that beauty for generations to come.
The specific purpose of the project is to raise awareness and gratitude among us all for this gorgeous environment we get to live in!
Just think: not everybody in the world gets to look out over valleys shrouded in early morning mists, mountain ridges receding with gentle color gradations into the far distance. Not everybody sees in their daily rounds rolling pastures of hay rippling in the breeze, or towering rocky cliffs, or a winding trail dissolving into deep woods.
When we think about it, we can realize how these visions give us a sense of peace, a glimpse of deep beauty, and a feeling of balance in the world.
And through all of this beauty the Locust Fork River has been winding for a long, long time. It nourishes so much life! So many creatures depend utterly on it for water, for tiny food bits, for tasty larvae, for big fish. Its floods nourish the floodplain in timeless cycles. Its ripples and waves and torrents inspire the human soul.
Friends of the Locust Fork River intends for the murals to serve as gracious reminders of how fortunate we are in this county and how we humans need to work together to nurture and maintain that beauty for generations to come.
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
“It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know the sense of wonder and humility. ”
― Rachel Carson, "The Sense of Wonder"
― Rachel Carson, "The Sense of Wonder"