Old Spanish Trail Mural painted Saturday

Jacob Escarcida, 6, learns how to pan for gold at the Mural in a Day event on Saturday.

By STEVIE ST. JOHN City Editor April 30, 2007 - 6:23AM BARSTOW - High heat drained painters' energy but not the enthusiasm at the Mural in a Day event in downtown Barstow on Saturday. About 20 people went to work in a flurry on the Main Street building on Saturday morning, but only a few at a time were at their brushes by early afternoon. However, many overwhelmed by the heat stayed to enjoy other aspects of the event while they sought shade. "We've had quite a lot of activity," said Jane Laraman-Brockhurst of Main Street Murals. The Barstow students who designed four panels of the mural learned to pan for gold. Along with their parents and the Main Street Murals artists, they watched American Indian and Mexican dance demonstrations. Downtown tours took place in the morning. Putting paint to wall culminated a collaboration between Main Street Murals and gifted Barstow students, who did art projects and took field trips to prepare for their role in creating the artwork. Main Street Murals artist Kathy Fierro called it a "four-month learning adventure." "We got to do all kinds of exciting things we'd never done before," Fierro said. Emily Miller, 10, was sorry the project was ending as she accepted a certificate of thanks from Laraman-Brockhurst. If the group works with kids on another mural, Miller is ready to sign on. She said she learned that "mules carry a lot of stuff" from the unit. Her artistic contribution was mostly drawing and painting plants for her group's panel. At the end of the day, the mural was mostly done but still had some details unfinished. Painters will tackle remaining work this week. The work must be completed before the Old Spanish Trail conference, which Barstow Community College and the Desert Discovery Center will host in June. The joint project with the school district generated a lot of interest in Main Street Murals, Laraman-Brockhurst said. The group is already considering what to depict in its next mural and how to put its artists - and the kids - to work. She sees the project as a chance for kids to paint Barstow's history and also, in a way, their own history. In years to come, she hopes the art will remind them of the indepth project they worked on.