May 12, 2004
Albany- Through the windows of the old Napa warehouse on Pine Avenue, you can get a quick look at what will be seen inside the Riverquarium.
Dougherty County middle and high school students drew a mural that cover the windows of the old warehouse.
"The hardest part was probably the main turtle and it is an alligator snapping turtle," said Kristen Watson, a senior at Albany High School. "We used small brushes on all of these to get the detail you see here."
It was a way to draw attention to the project, said Douglas Noble, executive director of the Riverquarium.
"And at the same time give us the privacy we need behind the scenes to do what we're doing to get ready to introduce the animals into the Riverquarium," he said.
Behind the glass, Riverquarium employees are quarantining some of the fish and animals that will soon move in, Noble explained after bringing out a common snapping turtle, that wasn't happy about his early premier.
The students though are happy their work is downtown.
"It took a lot of people working on it and many classroom hours to make it look so detailed and realistic," Watson said.
"They kind of got a system down where one would do warts and the other was good at shading," said Betsy Bridger, the art teacher at Albany High.
The stroke of every brush was a way for students to have a hand in a huge city project.
"Anytime you contribute to something you're always more aware of it, more happy that it's around," said Barbi Fisher, the art teacher at Westover High.
"We are all definitely planning on coming here the weekend it opens," Watson said.
So they can see first hand what they've already made come alive.
posted at 9:58 p.m. by brannon.stewart@walb.com
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