New murals brighten up Preston pool

When Tonya Keim came up with the idea of installing murals for the Preston Swimming Pool, she first approached the pool manager, Sara Niemeyer who loved the suggestions. After discussing some of the details, they decided to go for it.

The first thing they needed to do was to line up funding, but the City of Preston had just received a grant for a different mural, which meant that they  would have to go a different route.  So Niemeyer took the still very raw idea to the park board.  “We had no set picture or theme in mind,” she said.  She asked for $300-400 to purchase supplies for the murals.  The park board agreed to her request and gave her up to $400 to use.

Once the funding had been worked out, Keim got in touch with Fillmore Central high school teacher Carrie Mathison.  Mathison recommended two of her students, then high school junior Kelsey Berg and sophomore Jackie Thomas, to paint the murals.  Both girls were asked to submit several rough draft drawings.  Keim and Niemeyer picked one design from Kelsey and one from Jackie for the murals.

“I’ve always loved art so I was really excited to be picked,” Kelsey said. Jackie decided to go with a beach theme for her mural, and Kelsey settled on “Preston” for her theme.  They were provided with wood and paint purchased with the budget from the park board.  The girls worked on their murals during the entire summer of 2016 and finished them just as it was  wrapping up.  The murals were stored in the pool building over the winter months and installed this spring.  Jackie’s mural was placed inside of the pool enclosure and Kelsey’s on the outside of the building.

“I was very impressed with how well they turned out,” Niemeyer said, noting that both girls also held down summer jobs and still managed to find time to complete their murals.

The murals can be seen at the Preston Swimming Pool.