Last year, Harris noticed a blank wall space just outside Kohl's Department Store on the upper-level beside the Community Wall, and envisioned creating a vividly-hued mural with large lettering that proudly proclaimed, "Experience the Arts!" and included a large arrow pointing to a glass-enclosed bulletin board advertising the Charles County arts scene to mall-shoppers. After months of planning and many conversations with the St. Charles Towne Center management, the project was approved, and recently became a reality.
In an after-hours "stealth" paint-party, volunteer painters entered via an unmarked "secret" passageway known only to Mall personnel and quickly got to work painting Harris' eye-catching design. Harris and her volunteers were in a race against time as the project had to be completely accomplished after hours between 9:30 pm Friday night and 11:00 am Sunday morning when the Mall reopened. When they left the mall on Sunday morning, the paint was still wet!
CCAA President Diane Rausch said, "The mission of the Charles County Arts Alliance is to promote all the arts in our county, and we are delighted to have created this strikingly beautiful graphic artwork at the Mall. Our goal is to encourage the thousands of mall shoppers every day to "experience the arts" by attending our many excellent and diverse arts events -- festivals, concerts, shows, exhibits, workshops -- here in Charles County. Our sincere thanks go to the St. Charles Towne Center management for their strong support of our local arts community in Charles County."
Harris led a team of volunteers that included Bill Adams, Roy Jenkins, Cindy Johnson, Gale Kladitis, Robert Rausch, and Diane Rausch.
The mission of the Charles County Arts Alliance (CCAA) is to stimulate, promote, encourage, and provide recognition of the arts and the creative spirit. Founded in 1987, the CCAA promotes ALL the arts in Charles County: music, visual art, drama, dance, and literature.