An elementary school teacher with a wide range of talent and whose artwork has been displayed on an international scale is the latest to share that talent with the community of Baroda. Her striking new mural at the crossroads of the Southwest Michigan Wine Trail will get lots of exposure thanks to the strategic placement on a prominent commercial building in the heart of downtown Baroda.
Baroda Village Clerk Tina Boehm, who has become a tremendous advocate for public art in the community there, tells me that school teacher Hilary Burchett’s new work is now complete on the north wall of Nye’s Autotech & Tire shop at the corner of Hills Road and First Street in downtown Baroda.
The colorful mural sports a decidedly patriotic theme with images of rolling fields, hilly vineyards, wines, a saluting military figure, the iconic community clock and water towers, and the original Nye’s building complete with an early American automobile filled with happy people.
Boehm says that Burchett contributed her beautiful new work to the community’s public art initiative in the Village. Burchett has been teaching for 12 years as a visual arts instructor for grades Pre-K through 12th in the public schools system, currently teaching Pre-K-5th grades in the visual arts at Hollywood Elementary School in the Lakeshore School District.
Perfectly time to coincide with the advent of the summer tourist season, the work is at the crossroads of the burgeoning wine trail and, for that matter, the entire Makers Trail in Michigan’s Great Southwest.
Burchett has a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with watercolor emphasis from Western Michigan University and has enjoyed fine art showings in Biarritz, France…Graz, Austria…and multiple showings in Kalamazoo.
Clerk Boehm says that when Hilary isn’t sharing her knowledge with her students, she spends time painting in her studio and tending to the animals she raises on a small rural farm.
Next time you hit the Makers Trail, take a moment to soak in the imagery of a great new public art piece in downtown Baroda as shown in the photo accompanying this story on Moody on the Market.com.
