To the editor:

The talented young artists of Van Go presented their latest public art project to the community Friday evening at a dedication ceremony at Pinckney Elementary School. Our gym was overflowing with current families at the school, Old West Lawrence and Pinckney neighborhood friends, and supporters of the project from all over the city. With the Pinckney PTO, we celebrated an amazing 90-foot mural created by 22 incredible young people and made possible by enormous community spirit and collaboration. The mural has transformed the Pinckney tunnel.

After the dedication, as the crowd went outside in the dreary weather and jockeyed for space in the tunnel to speak to the Van Go artists about their work, we were all reminded that this project is about much more than a mural. This project brought neighborhoods together. It forged partnerships between our city and our school community. It employed and empowered creative young people who need something to believe in and someone to believe in them. And it has become a shining example of a small, good thing in this world — something that can bring little bits of beauty to us all. 

Thank you, Lawrence, for helping us turn something we need into something we love.