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A Partner in the Arts

Many of you have enjoyed the artwork presented on the back wall of the CSTOCK stage for productions such as Mr. Scrooge, The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, Into the Woods, and most recently, Brigadoon. These murals were crafted by local mural artist Willow McKee-Huard.

Willo has lived in Silverdale for the past 25 years and raised her two sons and a daughter here, and also where she has been able to apply her passion for art and serve as a creative mentor and teacher. Willo began using her artistic abilities as a teacher with the art docent program at Central Kitsap schools and and spent 15 years working with not only her own children but with the children and adults of the Central Kitsap community, sharing her own appreciation and understanding of the value of an education in the creative arts. She has been teaching art for the past 3 years at Bremerton High School, and also taught for 9 years with vocational college students at the Northwest College of Art where she was also the Director of Education for 6 years.

Her list of clients has included the Olympic Music Festival, the Bremerton Symphony, the Uss California, City of Bremerton, Silverdale Chamber of Commerce, Kitsap County Public Works, the Washington Art Education Association, and Friends of Open Space. Exhibitions of her work have been offered at the Sidney Gallery in Port Orchard, Blue Heron Gallery, Silverdale Hotel, Bremerton Community Theatre, the Northwest College of Art several times, and the Northwest Watercolor Society.

Creative opportunities like the set paints at CSTOCK have offered her another opportunity to contribute art to the community. In further expansion of that opportunity, she now brings her high school students into these projects. "I believe in young people and the importance of creative educational programs," says Willo. "I enjoy working with students and I have been impressed with the way they respond to big projects, how they cooperate to see a group effort become a set, and how they adapt to working with other adult supervisors. The directors and production adults at CSTOCK have demonstrated wonderful interest and provided training for these students. Some parents have commented on the new and positive light they see shining from their children through such activity. These comments and the stack of notes, letters, and cards from students are a personal true joy."

But preparing the backwall murals on our stage is not an easy task - standing on a ladder for hours, pushing a brush against the rough surfaced flats, and the huge scale of mural art all takes a toll on Willo's body and spirit. Each backdrop or set has consumed 50 to 100 hours of work. Muscle aches and thoughts of the toil evaporate, however, when she watches the lighting and the acting combining with the set to become a performance. Willo says these painted sets serve as a fleeting part of the light of the torch she hopes to see carry on.

Many years ago, at a time when her life was in transition and her children were young, Willo found a quote by George Bernard Shaw that defined her thoughts and set a course of action allowing her to complete her own creative studies and seek our opportunities to use her talents, interests, and skills.

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no "brief candle" to me. It is a splendid torch which I got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to further generations.

Willo says her role as an arts educator of our young people and her response to every opportunity to participate and contribute to arts in the community has enabled her to fulfill her own life's purpose. She believes she will always use her creative talents and training and might end up teaching art in a retirement complex.