When life gives you lemons, you’re supposed to make lemonade, right? The University of Iowa has a new eight-foot-high wooden fence encircling the former campus centerpiece, Old Capitol, which was badly damaged in a fire nearly a year ago. But instead of enduring the plywood eyesore, the locals will decorate the wall this weekend. Carolyn Colvin, chair of the U-of-I Diversity Committee, says they want to express the diverse nature of the University.Colvin, a professor of curriculum and instruction, says students, faculty and community leaders will be painting inside special stencils. The stencils will be made by Iowa City elementary students who will lay on big sheets of paper in various positions, draw around their bodies, then cut out the shapes. The sheets of paper, dozens of them, will then go up on the wall as temporary frames for the artists to work within. The plywood is being painted green this week to provide a background for the paintings of the kids at play. The art will be painted on Saturday and Sunday and then more schoolkids will be brought in next week to paint flowers around all of the figures.Restoration work is underway on the historic Old Capitol, which was struck by fire in November last year that demolished the cupola and golden dome.
