West Side Wellness

West Side Wellness is appropriately named, having been created for the West Side Wellness Center, a community gathering place focused on mental and physical wellbeing. Allison Butcher, a former nurse, designed and executed the paint on block mural in 2019. Butcher attended college at West Virginia University at Parkersburg to obtain a nursing degree. However, she also studied art. After graduating, Butcher worked as a nurse for several years before deciding to pursue an art career full time. She moved to Los Angeles, California, and quickly established herself as a talented muralist and multimedia artist. Despite dwelling far from home, West Side Wellness is one example of the close connection with maintains her native state.

West Side Wellness covers two walls that bound a small parking lot. The piece is eight feet tall at its highest point and the two sides are fifty-four and thirty-six feet long. Though figurative, the piece is also somewhat surreal. Moving from left to right, floating lights surround an elderly woman who sits on the forest floor next to two horses. The woman appears to be holding a glowing bird skull. This scene is loosely inspired by a moment from Butcher's own life when two horses approached her. As the mural continues to the right, it fades from night into day. Several larger-than-life birds fly over a golden landscape. The bird skull, aged woman, and transformation from night into day all enhance the mural's cyclical message. West Side Wellness exhibits a theme of regeneration and rebirth through its symbolism and narrative.

Butcher, Allison. About me, Allison Butcher. Accessed January 26th 2021. https://www.abutcherart.com/about.html.

Butcher, Allison. Allison Butcher, Instagram. June 29th 2019. Accessed January 26th 2021. https://www.instagram.com/p/BzTEPOjBF6d/.

Lapann, Paul. Former nurse Allison Butcher focuses on painting, The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. July 14th 2019. Accessed January 26th 2021. https://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/local-news/2019/07/former-nurse-allison-butcher-focuses-on-painting/.