Historic West Aurora mural comes a long way

Posted August 05, 2015 11:00 pm

Submitted by Aurora Historical Society

Art conservator Scott Sherwood and Aurora Public Art Commission guest curator Mary Ann Signorelli will present the saga of "The History of Writing and the Alphabet" by Paul Stoddard, a WPA mural donated to West Aurora High School by the Class of 1933 and saved from the wrecking ball in 2014.

A 12-foot section (the mural is 93 feet in entirety) is being restored in the exhibit gallery at the Pierce Center and visitors will learn the painstaking steps involved in removing it from an abandoned building, stabilizing it, cleaning and repairing it prior to its installation at the current West High in September.

The program will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 9, at Pierce Art and History Center, 20 E. Downer Place in Aurora.

Cost is $5 per person or $3 for historical society members; free for West Aurora Art Heritage Society members.

This program has been substituted for "Radio Days in Aurora," previously scheduled for this date at the Tanner House Museum. Look for the radio program next spring.

Keep up-to-date by following on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WestAuroraArtHeritageAndEducation.

To join the West Aurora Art Heritage Society and ensure that this mural and others currently in the district's oldest schools will be available to future generations, visit www.CommunityFoundationFRV/profile/wa-art-heritage-edu-fund/.

Art conservator Scott Sherwood removes a section of "The History of Writing" mural from the old West High in 2014. Courtesy of Aurora Historical Society

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