ATHOL — The Millers River Environmental Center held a well-attended open house Friday evening, which included new artwork covering windows on the ground floor of the former schoolhouse, built in 1889. Other works of art were on view inside the center. The event included hors d’oeuvres and plenty of conversation inside, with live music on the lawn of the front lawn of the facility.
The MREC, located at 100 Main St., is operated by the Athol Bird and Nature Club.
“We had an original Windows on Main project that artist M.E. Kane organized,” said club executive director David Small. “The medium on plywood didn’t last real well. So, we wanted to resurrect something to put back in these spaces. I’ve worked with Lyman Signs on a couple of other projects and the medium seems to be working.”
Small explained that original works of art are digitized.
“The ones that were regular photographs were hard print,” he said, “John Bourque Photography actually photographed them, and they got them with enough pixels so they could be enlarged to the 54” by 54” format, which is pretty big. Lyman Signs then took those digital images, printed on acrylic, and laminated to the metal, an aluminum backing.” Lyman Signs is located on Route 2A in Phillipston.
“This whole thing really evolved around the new elevator that’s going in,” said Small. “It’s not quite done yet, but we’re partying anyway.”
He went on to explain that “the town meeting put up $64,000 for the elevator. We needed a little extra money to finish that project and at the same time do more a community service kind of a thing. So, we said we’d use a MassWorks Grant, which is a matching grant. We said we’d raise $10,000; we actually raised $17,000. Then we were actually able to do this artwork. We gave $15,000 to the town to cover their extra expenses on the lift, so everything’s moving forward.”
The Athol Bird and Nature Club was, according to Smith, started in 1963 by then-Athol Junior High School science teacher Bob Coyle, who is commemorated on a panel installed in one of the first-floor windows. Coyle served as the leader of the group until 1988, when he was succeeded by Small. Coyle passed away in December 2013 at the age of 83.
Local and area artists who provided artwork for the panels include: Bonnie Benjamin, David Brothers, Kim Bolton, David Small, Richard Salvucci, Bill Fournier, Heidi Kleiner and Susan Paju, Casy Williams, Susan Marshall, Justin Beatty, Kerry Stone, and Tom Wyatt.
Music at Friday’s event was provided by Legacy and by Sweeteuphoria.