ROCKINGHAM — A colorful new mural at the Richmond County Animal Shelter, painted by local teen artist Annika Carpenter, brightens up the room people visit while getting to know the animals they might adopt as pets.
Carpenter, 14, said she has been interested in art since she was two years old. Her mother, Katherine Criscoe, said she knows where her child’s artistic talents come from.
“She’s good at everything,” Criscoe said. “Her art, yes, but she is gifted in all of the arts. She plays three different instruments for school. And she’s got this going on. She’s gifted in English language arts. And we tell her, ‘God gave you a gift and you’re using it for good.’ That’s what you’re supposed to do.”
Center director Bonnie Wilde said she has wanted to make the room more inviting since starting work there in November of 2014. The mural, she added, is just what the space needs.
“People can come in here and meet and spend time with their prospective new pets,” she said. “And they bring the family and any pets they already have to see how they interact to the one they are thinking of adopting. Now they can come and have that experience in a calming atmosphere.”
The mural’s design was loosely inspired by an online template Carpenter examined before deciding which direction the project would take. Finally all of the room’s walls were painted from floor to ceiling with rolling green grassy hills met by a Carolina blue sky. Carpenter added dogs and cats to the foreground and placed airborne birds in the sky. Her mother said she even named all of the animals.
“They all have names,” Carpenter said. “If I could paint little collars on each of them and put their names on so that people could read it, I would. This room used to be just white. It was like an off-white. I worked really hard in here and tried my best. I hope that not only my friends and family will enjoy this, but all of the people that come in here. I hope it brings attention that there are animals in this shelter that need homes.”
Criscoe, a veterinary tech, said she understands why a visit to the shelter could be intimidating for sensitive people who think it is a place full of lonely, frightened animals. But she hopes more people will come and see the meet and greet room, spend some time with some of the animals, and have a change of heart.
“This is the happy room,” she said. “We hope people will come here and see this, see the animals and want to take them home.”
Carpenter, a rising ninth-grader, said her plans for summer break include spending time with her friends and playing her musical instruments. After that, she looks forward to some of the new classes she chose as electives.
“I signed up for marching band,” she said. “I have women’s choir and culinary arts. After high school, I have no idea what I want to be, but I have a really big dream to start out in plays and become an actress, make my own fashion line and become a singer. That’s my dream, to start with something and then go up.”
The puppy Annika is seen holding in this story’s photograph is Kessie, an approximately two-year-old German shepherd mix. To find out more about the pets available for adoption, call the shelter at 910-895-0335.
Reach reporter Melonie McLaurin at 910-817-2673 and follow her on Twitter @meloniemclaurin.
