TWIN FALLS — After being delayed for more than half a year because of the pandemic, A College of Southern Idaho student finally completed her mural at the Twin Falls Public Library.
Melisa Harris, an Arts Education major, was selected as the finalist to have her design painted on the kid's section's walls in the library back in early 2020.
"I did set designs in high school, and I was like, oh, I would love to do something for the community on the big scale stuff because I haven't done it in a while," Harris said.
The library's original plan was to have Harris start her mural in Spring 2020 to have it done by summer 2020, but the project was delayed after the pandemic hit.
"But we were still glad that she was able to paint the mural. She was able to start it this fall. One thing that I admired was that she is still a CSI student, so she was able to work around making the mural and still attending her classes," Erica Littlefield, Youth services supervisor of the Twin Falls Public library, said.
Littlefield says they chose Hariss's design because they knew it would be a mural kids would enjoy.
"All the little details that she has put into it make it fun, make it almost like a little seek and find for the kids. They can come in and look at all the little animals and the little details," Littlefield said.
Although the library is only open by appointment, only a handful of kids have been able to see the mural, but Melisa says she hopes kids find comfort in the design.
"The entire time I was making this, I just wanted it to be a fun place to read. I was thinking about myself as a kid. I like looking at details and being able to sit while reading, and even if I'm not reading and look around and have a spot that's kind of like my spot," Harris said.
Harris's mural sits at the bottom of CSI Art Professor Angela Batchelor's mural, which has been up for more than 20 years. Harris says she hopes the same for her art piece.
"I'm thrilled that I was able to do this. I'm excited now that I'm finished with it and thinking that kids are going to get to read here," Harris said.
