LOCAL ARTIST PAINTS MURAL FOR MALL

This summer, Sarah Geringer has worked as an intern at the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri. It was through the arts council that she learned about the mural she is being commissioned for.

Joyce Hunter, marketing director of Westfield Shoppingtown West Park, spoke with Tom Howard, executive director of the arts council, in an effort to find someone available to undertake this kind of project. Howard asked Geringer, and "from that point, everything started falling into place," Geringer said.

"I've done other murals, but not nearly as large as this one," she said. "Previous murals have been for private homes." The "world mural" is to be 8 feet high-by-23 feet wide.

Geringer began work on July 9 and has put 16 hours into the project so far. She predicts it will take somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 to 80 hours.

Geringer works from a pencil sketch that has an underlying grid. The grid was scaled up in size and placed on the actual wall so that the image would stay in proportion to her sketch. Mall engineers painted the blue background and the grid before she began work.

The image of the world Geringer is painting is framed with sky.

"The clouds in that sky were sponge-painted on the prepared blue background and took about four hours to complete," Geringer said. The original plan was to cover the entire area with the "world mural," but Geringer thought framing it would be the best visual solution. Logically speaking, the world is surrounded by sky.

Somewhere in the world mural will be "Westie," a kangaroo that is Westfield Shoppingtown's mascot.

"He will have to be relatively small in order to be hidden," Geringer said. Shoppers will be invited to locate Westie, record his whereabouts and be eligible to win weekly prizes, as well as a grand prize to be awarded Oct. 8.

As for Geringer, she is grateful for the opportunity to have a lot of people see her work and get her name out there.

"The mural will be up for six to nine months," she said, adding that she will graduate in December with a bachelor of fine arts degree in graphic design and illustration. In the fall she'll begin putting out resumes.

Geringer chose graphic design because of its challenge, as well as its job security.

"You're more likely to have a steady job as a graphic designer as opposed to a free-lance artist," Geringer said. "In graphic design, you must know what to leave out and what to include in order to convey a message clearly: That's the challenge."

Geringer believes she is a self-motivated person who sees something she wants, and goes after it.

After having lived in Georgia, near Chattanooga, Tenn., she's decided she doesn't want to live in a big city. Living there made her want to come back home.