Logos School splashes color on Wesley House
By Meliqueica Meadows
Of the St. Louis American
For years, the Wesley House community center has been a bright spot in the 21st Ward, and now the outside of the building reflects the growth it has fostered in that community. For about six weeks this summer, eight Logos School art students, supervised by art teachers and a project leader, designed and painted a mural at the community center.
The mural shows a group of children looking at various bugs and plant life through a magnifying glass. Those in attendance at the recent dedication ceremony spoke about the importance of art at Wesley House, 4507 Lee, and in the surrounding community.
“It beautifies and helps enhance the whole (community), especially for the inner city where everybody sees the ugliness or the bad reputation that the inner city has,” project leader Byron Rogers said.
“Something like this shows that beauty can still happen and art can happen in the inner city. It inspires the young kids to be better than what they are.”
Rogers, a former youth program director at Wesley House, now teaches art at Cardinal Ritter College Prep. He said the mural is a source of pride for Wesley House kids and the community.
“Even the kids who weren’t a part of the program and couldn’t paint wanted to help and participate,” he said.
“It built up that ownership and that pride that this is happening at our community center and we’re more than just mediocre, we’re something special. It gave them some pride in the community center, and now they can take ownership of it and its environment.”
Logos School students who designed and painted the Wesley House mural were DeAndre Brothers, Preston Bullard, Jamie Grigsby, Evan Lee, Sam Operle, Paul Powell, Chris Pershall and Danny Stefanick. 21st Ward Alderwoman Bennice Jones King congratulated the young painters for their hard work on the colorful mural.
“There have been great accomplishments through Logos, and I’m happy that they partnered with Wesley House and came into the community,” she said. “This mural represents life on all levels, and Wesley House has been involved in the lives of so many from the young to the old. All levels of life can prosper in a community that works together.”
Logos School is an independent, non-profit school for students in the seventh through twelfth grades. The institution is dedicated students with emotional and behavioral problems and reflects the belief those students have the ability and deserve the opportunity to succeed.
Wesley House community center serves the community bound by Natural Bridge, I-70, Kingshighway and Grand Avenue and provides a variety of programs for children, adults and senior citizens. Through the years, it has provided a safe haven for youth and adults in the area.
“The children absolutely love this, the playfulness of the images with the lizards and various bugs flying around. It is about life and about things growing and the beauty of the world around us,” Logos School art instructor Alison Cannon said.
“Art speaks without words, and this is about seeing things up close, looking at the world under that glass and finding its incredible beauty and delicacies. This is about not only seeing the world and natural beauty in that way, but also our children and our community members in that same way.”
Wesley House was established in 1903 and is a lay group associated with the Methodist Church. Programs provided at the Wesley House include after-school, summer experience, environmental education, computer classes, food pantry, senior meals, congregate meals, home-delivered meals and senior transportation.
Logos School assists students and their families with needs that have not been met in traditional school environments. In 1994, the institution started the Community Mural Project and since then have painted indoor and outdoor murals throughout the city.
