From left to right, Harpers Ferry resident Sikara Sokel, Harpers Ferry resident Kalin Gregg, Charles Town resident Charlotte Puttock and Shepherdstown resident Prema Baughman stand in front of the mural in May. Photo by Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Morgan’s Grove Park now features a new mural on the back of its kitchen building.

Four Shepherd University alumni — Kalin Gregg, Charlotte Puttock, Prema Baughman and Sikara Sokel — were commissioned by the park’s owner, the Shepherdstown Community Club (SCC), to begin the project earlier this year.

“This is our first group mural together,” Sokel said. “The Shepherdstown Community Club commissioned us. They wanted to do something kind of storybook-esque and have native Appalachian animals in it. They wanted us to incorporate some of the town in it, as well.”

Puttock, who has loved reading from a young age, said she particularly enjoyed exploring how to best incorporate elements into the mural from the books she had grown up reading.

“Shepherdstown feels like a very fresh town, but at the same time, it is also very folksy, so we wanted to play off of the folksy narrative you can find in some children’s books. We took inspiration from a number of books, like those written by Beatrix Potter and Jan Brett,” Puttock said. “We wanted it to feel homey to adults but also to be able to create new memories for kids.”

Harpers Ferry resident Kalin Gregg bends down to fill in a portion of the mural at Morgan’s Grove Park in May. Photo by Tabitha Johnston

In the end, the mural included a number of delightful scenes that could have been taken directly from a storybook.

“We’ve got a little band playing, which is made up of a cat, a heron and a toad,” Sokel said. “We’ve got some bunnies doing a picnic with some raccoons. We’ve got some mice dancing around the maypole, like people do in Shepherdstown every May Day. Then, we’ve got a red fox canoeing on the Potomac River.”

According to Gregg, the location the SCC selected for the mural to be painted was ideal, for a number of reasons.

“It’s an optimal use of this space and really brightens it up,” Gregg said. “Especially in the winter, when all of the leaves are gone, you’ll be able to see it from the road. It will provide a pop of color that will draw people’s eyes to Morgan’s Grove Park.

“We also picked our color out carefully, so that it would match multiple seasons,” Gregg said. “It will look really nice and warm in the summer but, with the cool gray tones in it, will also not look overdone in the winter.”

Harpers Ferry resident Sikara Sokel paints a portion of the mural in Morgan’s Grove Park in May. Photo by Tabitha Johnston

Prior to the mural project’s beginning, the back of the kitchen featured a uniform, dull gray color. It faced the children’s playground at the park and, according to the artists, somewhat detracted from the landscape. The mural’s theme was well chosen, they said, as it added a particular element of interest for the children playing nearby.

It would also, Puttock added, ensure the children would begin to understand the value of both literature and art and how they could bring joy to everyday life.

“I like that it’s near the playground,” Puttock said. “When I was a kid, I would hang out in the Charles Town Library a lot. They would do a lot of murals there, and I still think back to it, to this day. So, I’m hoping that’s kind of what this mural will do.”

The mural was funded by a grant from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.