Sept, 22 2022
By: Katherine Trowbridge
Coffee and community is the motto of Kaffrin’s Coffee Shop in Connell. It is a well known fact how the “coffee community” contributes through the little downtown coffee shop to a variety of charities and other events. Recently, that motto took on another role as the shop’s owner, KaTrina Kunkel brought an idea to local high school art teacher, Lee Rudeen. The vision of an interactive wall mural took shape as Connell High School (CHS) art students, Molly Hokanson and her sister Makaydi brought the idea to life. It was Molly who came up with the unique design of a Kaffrin’s “coffee cup” spilling out with the richness of our “farming community.”
Rudeen, his wife, Anne, along with some assistance from KaTrina’s father-in-law, drew the design onto the board attached to the north wall of the shop. From there it quickly took shape.
Kunkel said she had this feeling that the high school was detached from the rest of the community and wanted a way to get high school students involved in the community.
“By having them do the mural, the students can be involved in downtown and have a sense of ownership in the community,” Kunkel said.
Rudeen expressed, “It is wonderful to see our students having a part in adding meaning and beauty to this community. The design that Molly created is original and eye catching.”
Molly expressed she enjoyed doing it. She previously painted several smaller designs at the junior high for her senior project.
Kunkel shared that she had seen similar murals in other towns and wanted to give the Connell community something interactive as well. You may be wondering what exactly is interactive about the mural. Well, that’s where you come in. You can “interact” with the mural by taking photos or acting like you’re holding the cup or the coffee is spilling out into your mouth... You get the idea.
In a cooperative effort, the mural was designed, created, and painted as creative wall art to be a community “photo op” at Kaffrin’s Coffee shop for all to enjoy.
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