Canavan's Mural Spruces Up Rec Center's Kids Corner

For the last few weeks, up the stairs and a quick swerve away from the clinks, rattles and grunts emitting from , creativity has been in full bloom.

Artist Jean M. Canavan, a member of the Saline Rec Center for all of its 20 years of existence, has been busy stroking color and life into the walls around the entrance to Kids Corner, a room where kids play and hang out while their parents work up a sweat.

Last week, Canavan completed her mural. She used acrylic paint to create a colorful mural that seems to invite kids into a lively and bustling tree-house. Canavan began the work at the request of Saline Parks and Recreation Director Carla Scruggs.

“I talked to Carla and she wanted something very cute, playful and inviting . We wanted something that made kids feel like Kids Corner was a special place to go,” said Canavan.

The mural makes it appear as if the door opens into a tree that is home to squirrels, blue birds and wiggly worms. Next to the tree, bees buzz and butterflies flutter around a couple flowers. There’s also a little fairy door at the bottom of the tree.

“I think this looks fun. It’s kind of gives you that feeling of kids going to the tree house or their fort,” Canavan said.

Scruggs was happy with the creation. The mural was completed just a few weeks shy of the Rec Center’s big 20^th anniversary weekend. But Scruggs said the milestone anniversary wasn’t really the motivaton for the work.

“We just like to keep things fresh and perked up around here,” she said.

Scruggs' long-time pooch, Elliott, who died last year, was memorialized as one of the characters in Canavan's mural.

For Canavan, seeing the mural up at Kids Corner weeks before the 20^th anniversary gave her pause to reflect.

“Has it been 20 years? It’s funny to look at this door and think about how my now-full-grown children used to go play in this room when they were kids,” said Canavan, who still works out at the center every week. “The Rec Center is a great place.”

It’s just one of sevral of Saline’s great places that Canavan has made a little better with her art. For a decade, she’s been doing murals on downtown windows for the holidays. She painted the dragons at . Her art can also be found at offices. Canavan’s work is often displayed at in Saline, where she also teachers.

For more on Canavan’s work, visit her blog.