Library wins statewide award for mural project

The Randolph County Public Library’s summer 2009 downtown Asheboro mural project has won an Outstanding Library Promotional Project award from the North Carolina Public Library Directors Association (NCPLDA).

Conceived by Teen Services Librarian Amy Keith Barney as part of “Express Yourself @ your library,” the library’s teen Summer Reading Program, and created by local painter and art teacher Cori Cagle, the mural casts a dawn-to-dusk vision of downtown Asheboro landmarks and attractions on the concrete retaining wall at the intersection of Church and Academy streets.

Painted primarily by teen volunteers from the library and kids from the Central Boys and Girls Clubs, it encompasses some 900 square feet on the 220-foot-long by seven-foot-high arced wall. Some 15-20 painters worked each day for two weeks in July to complete the project, and adult volunteers chipped in on two evenings.

The project, which had the backing of the Asheboro Appearance Commission and the Asheboro City Council, was funded by Trees Asheboro (now Trees NC) through a Grassroots Arts Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council via the Randolph Arts Guild. Trees Asheboro and the City of Asheboro provided logistical support for the painters.

View photos of the project.