LES, Central School students learn lesson, hone mural skills
<p>Students of Gayle Paden and Todd Berget participated in the mural project at a home just off Plummer Road. The students and their grades are, from left, Nicole Davis, 12; Ryan McKee, 12; Aliveyonna Reed, 6; Mason Risteau, 12, Nathaniel Price, 6; Adam LaFont, 5; Josh Massey, 11; Phyllis Lemon, 5; Ashley Witz, 11 and Ryan Thom, 11. Central School students were paired with LES students in the project.</p>
Primary and secondary curricula found common ground Tuesday as students from Gayle Paden’s Libby Elementary School class and those of Todd Berget’s Central School class teamed in their study of murals.
“We were reading about murals and what they mean,” said Paden. “So, I contacted Mr. Berget, and, well, here we are.”
In all, 10 students from both schools participated in an ongoing mural project at a home on Plummer Road, just outside the city limits.
The home, owned by Darien Greason, has been the canvas on which Central School students have been sharpening their painting skills for years.
“Darien said we can paint his house, so we did. Our goal is to cover over all of the blue,” said Berget, who leads efforts of the students in murals throughout town. Berget also is the sculptor who creates the steel bald eagles seen throughout Libby.
The home, which faces an alley just off Plummer Road, has a blue background with hundreds of flowers, moose, deer and other outdoor scenes.
“It’s fun to see students show their talents, for them to grow and for them to be a part of something that will be here for a very long time,” Berget said. “To add art to their lives and to those who see this is really nice.”
Berget then talked about one of his more famous students.
“There are a lot of David Larimers out there. We need to keep cultivating them,” Berget said of Larimer who has grown to paint murals at Libby Sports Center, Noble Excavating and throughout the Northwest.
On the wall at Central School is a slogan Berget stresses to his students. It reads: “Service is the rent we pay for living. It is the very purpose of life and not something we do in our spare time.”