The story behind a street mural at Gum Store Studios

By Stephen Baldwin, RealWV

Can public art support public safety? Penny Fioravante of Gum Store Studios, a nonprofit art studio located in White Sulphur Springs, thinks so. 

“Where we are located, it’s been a dangerous intersection,” Penny explains. “There’s a stop sign, but people don’t always stop. Everyone is always in a hurry.” 

Five years ago, she read about The Asphalt Initiative. It was an effort in big cities to use art to increase safety. 

“We took it to City Council,” Penny says, “and they approved it.” 

Her idea was to create a mural in the street by the intersection in order to encourage folks to slow down and enjoy the art. 

In addition to approval from the City of White Sulphur Springs, the WV Department of Arts, Culture, & History awarded Penny a grant to cover the full cost of the project. It was all coming together. 

“Then they started working on the bridge in town,” Penny says. “We had several years of traffic diversions because of the bridge work, so we waited until that was done to paint the mural.” 

This past weekend, Kelsie Tyson (an artist in residence at Gum Store Studios) organized and led the mural effort with the help of Laura Allman. 

“She laid it out like ‘paint by numbers,’” Penny shares. “We had a variety of people from the community come to help–teenagers, little kids, families, and older folks.” 

In total, the project took about 10 hours over two days to complete. The gum ball machine street mural is located outside the studio by the stop sign on Dry Creek Road. The paint should last at least 3-4 years. While Penny says art isn’t made to be permanent, she and her team are prepared to freshen up the mural annually as needed. 

All day on Monday, Penny heard folks stopping outside the studio to check out the new mural. “You can’t help but smile seeing it,” she says. “People can slow down and enjoy.”