The Art Room’s
2025 Community Art Project:
From These Roots
announcing: from these roots
We’re excited to announce our 2025 Community Art Project, From These Roots.
As part of our mission and in concert with our North Texas Giving Day fundraising campaign, The Art Room historically has given back to the community by donating large scale artworks to other Denton area nonprofits, collaborating with community members to design and create the artwork while highlighting what it means to be a community.
This year we’re working with the American Legion Hall Senior Center (ALH) to beautify their space and to elevate the underrepresented voices of seniors, Veterans, and the Black community by celebrating the history of the American Legion Hall and its importance to Southeast Denton. We’ve titled our project From These Roots, expressing our desire to simultaneously honor our elders, the history of the ALH Senior Center, the gift of wisdom that the past brings us—now and in the future—and how meaningful social connections fuel our well-being.
Over 200 volunteers have taken part this year, and we’re looking forward to our big dedication event in late September—stay tuned for our announcement!
Design for the painting of the original Penn-Reynolds-Jones American Legion Hall Post No.840
Installation 1 of 3: Painting of the Original ALH
We’ve created a large hallway installation of a 5' x 10' painting of the original Penn-Reynolds-Jones American Legion Hall Post No.840 building. This painting honors the work of the Veteran founders who built and paid for the original building in 1957, which was torn down and remodeled in 2021.
The painting consists of 72 10" x 10" wood panels painted by individuals in the community, as well as Members of and volunteers for The Art Room.
How to participate in the painting
July 29 UPDATE: all panels have now been claimed. Thank you!
On one of the listed dates below, come pick up a packet that will include a wood panel to paint, along with instructions. Volunteers can choose the part of the painting they want from the grid we’ll have on display. Volunteers will be recreating their assigned image at the correct scale and coloring, and are welcome use any medium that will work on the gessoed wood surface—and most will—such as acrylic, oil, watercolor, gouache, collage, pastel, oil pastel, or colored pencil.
Wood panel paintings are due back at The Art Room by August 30.
Questions about the painting installation? Email Marlys Lamar at president@theartroomdenton.org!
Mock-up and on-site photos of the From These Roots mosaic bench that will be installed on the ALH patio
Installation 2 of 3: Outdoor Mosaic Bench and Planters
We’re creating an outdoor patio concrete bench with a mosaic of the Sankofa Bird and the American flag, which will be located between two mosaic planters. The planters will be given a mosaic treatment featuring portraits of the original founders of the ALH Senior Center, with a mosaic egg in each planter that honors the gift that those Veterans who’ve come before us bring to the present and future.
Over 600 tiles will be created by artists of all ages and all skill levels!
Mosaic Participation
Packets of four pre-cut 4” square greenware tiles to render an assigned image on were distributed to volunteers mid-July through August. We met with volunteers at The Art Room, Denton Senior Center, and Aura Coffee Shop. The due date for tiles to be returned was August 15 (contact education@theartroomdenton.org with questions).
Questions about the bench and planters installation? Email Jennifer Diaz at education@theartroomdenton.org!
Planning for the From These Roots quilt
Installation 3 of 3: Sankofa Bird Quilt
A 56” x 80” quilt with a central appliqued image of a Sankofa Bird created by regional fiber artist Barbara McCraw, will be surrounded by twenty 12” blocks sewn by members of The Denton Quilt Guild and The Art Room. The Sankofa Bird represents the wisdom of looking to our past to inform our present and future. Each 12” block represents our community coming together to support this idea. The quilt will be hung in the American Legion Hall’s Carl Lee Jones game room.
Additional Quilt Blocks
As a supplemental part of this quilting project, we offered quilt making workshops to create additional quilt blocks that may be framed alongside the quilt in the Carl Lee Jones game room. The workshops welcomed novice and experienced sewists to sew a nine patch block, and were held at The Art Room and the American Legion Hall Senior Center in July and August.
Questions about the quilt installation? Email Marianna Seaton at info@theartroomdenton.org!