Bath Township engages community in colorful art piece

Bath Township Hall will get a splash of color that reflects community members.   

With permission from the township, the artist committee has decided to create a ceramic art piece for the township board room wall. This sculpture will feature five clay flowers of different sizes where community members will be invited to stamp textures into the petals.

Tayler Reeves-Hodge, township deputy superintendent, said the board room is overdue for an update.

“That room is stuck in the early 2000s, so we are just trying to figure out ways we can spruce it up,” said Reeves-Hodge. “We really wanted something unique to be in there that people could look at even if they were coming into the township to pay a bill.”

Art committee chair Melissa Eggleston, says after finishing a community mural  the committee is ready to involve the community even more. Eggleston says this project is planned to be assembled in the fall.

“Based on the reactions we had from the other project, for me, it’s important to involve the community whenever we can because then they have a sense of ownership in it, and have a lot of pride tied to it. That makes a huge difference as opposed to us just making something and plopping it down,” said Eggleston, who owns an art gallery in Bath. “It draws a little bit of attention to our community, and goodness knows we need some more of that nowadays because we haven’t been able to get together for so long.”

A long-time member of the committee and professional artist, Pamela Timmons, says after tragedies in the past, it’s exciting to see children become excited about projects like these.

“We are hoping we can do things that will involve the children of Bath that will portray Bath as joyful,” said Timmons referencing the 1927 Bath school massacre. We will never ever forget what happened, but we are not that anymore. That is our legacy, but we are what we are now.”