Art and working with young minds are two of Sheba McCants’ passions in life. Through mural making, she has been able to combine those two passions to make a difference in the lives of some Madison-area girls.
McCants has teamed up with Madison SOS (Speak Out Sister) to create a community mural that reflects and celebrates local teen girls’ vision for the future of their city. The Mural Unveiling Celebration — the culmination of six weeks of hard work on a 32-foot wall — will take place on Friday, Sept. 26, at the Wisconsin Youth and Family Center, 1201 McKenna Blvd.
The idea for the mural hatched about a year ago, when McCants, who works for the Urban League of Greater Madison by day, and Natalia Thompson, who is the project coordinator for Madison SOS, were talking about working on a project together. “We sent out e-mails to a lot of different people and the Wisconsin Youth and Family Center responded and said that they would love to have a mural in their gymnasium,” McCants says. “Natalia was the grant writer and has helped me facilitate and coordinate the project. She has been huge, in terms of getting this all together
This summer, McCants and other high school artists have created a design for the mural that expresses the young ladies’ ideas and dreams — and then spent six weeks learning about the art of mural making, painting, and having fun with other girls who love art.