Hurley students paint mural on Montreal River bridge

HURLEY - The Hurley riverfront is getting more colorful as members of the Hurley High School art program, taught by Terry Davis, have started a mural on the base of the former railroad bridge that allows all-terrain vehicles to cross the Montreal River into Ironwood.

Work began Tuesday and will resume today, two work days are also scheduled for next week before the mural is hopefully completed.

The mural, which is funded with grant money obtained by the Iron County Health Department, is a collaboration between the school, members of the community and the University of Wisconsin's Iron County Extension Office.

In addition to painting the mural, Hurley's students were also crucial to its design, explained Amy Nosal, a AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer with the UW extension office that has helped organize the project.

"I think the community does a really good job of honoring our past and our history, but there is not really a lot about our future," Nosal explained, "so I started with the kids and I asked them, 'what would you like Hurley to be in the future? What are your hope, your dreams, what do you love about your community now that goes forward?' They all picked a word and then drew an image of that word."

The images were then combined by local muralist Ann Marie Batiste into the comprehensive design.

Among the images that are featured in the mural are a walleye and a deer, tributes to the area's outdoor recreation opportunities and as well as vegetables and music notes. The mural also features the words "Hope" and "Imagine."

Nosal said she hopes that while students get excited about the future, they remember where they came from.

"Growing up, you just want to go out and be somewhere else, and that's totally fantastic, but realize that you come from a good place and you can do good things," Nosal said, referring to what she hopes the students take away from the project.

The students in Diane O'Krongly's science class also contributed to the mural's design, meeting with the art students to discuss aspects of the area's ecosystems - such as butterflies and other native pollinators - and how to turn these into art.

The mural is part of the larger construction of a trail head in front of the two railroad trestles that officials in the region have been working on and that will connect Hurley to a regional trail running from the ski trails in Montreal Wis., to Sunday Lake in Wakefield.