The mural project for the four Van Go teenagers got its start in the dead of winter, which meant several days of painting on frigid afternoons at the Zarco 66 station, 1415 W. Sixth St.

“I just remember it was freezing,” said Melanie Bolden, 19.

But on Friday, one of the more pleasant days of the year so far, Bolden and three other artists got to bask in the glow of a long, colorful mural that was unveiled at the south end of the lot at the filling station.

“Seeing it finished was the best part,” Bolden said.

The mural, about 4 feet high and about 40 feet long, depicts imagery of Lawrence and Kansas, with settlers and tornadoes on one end and the Kansas River bridge on another.

“I think it’s a neat depiction of the entire state,” said Scott Zaremba, owner of the station.

“It says all the possibilities in Kansas – it just shows a growing community painted by members of the community.”

Zaremba’s family commissioned artists in the JAMS program at Van Go Mobile Arts – a Lawrence nonprofit organization that employs at-risk teens – to transform a plain white wall into a colorful mural.

Jenna Pollard, 2, pretends to chat on her mother's cell phone in front of the newly dedicated mural Pathways

It was perhaps by design that the artists went to work during the coldest part of the year.

“It was tough when they got started,” Zaremba said. “But that’s part of the program – you have to show your dedication.”

To Bolden and her fellow artists Taniesha Kopriva, 19, Jessica Douglas, 18, and Stephanie Buckley, 18, the work was well worth it.

The mural’s design was entirely the artists’ own.

“The kids developed that mural,” said Zaremba, who commissioned Van Go in part because of his family’s support of the program. “We didn’t tell them what to do.

“It helps to take a blank wall and turn it into something that’s good for the community,” he added. “It’s a win-win for everybody.”