From 2nd left, Arica Buchanan, Stephan Wanger, Cheryl Pruitt, Mike Janela, Gary Board of School Trustees members Norm Bailey and Robert Buggs

Bead Town Gary sets Guinness World Record

Contributed By:The 411 News

Since 2014, the path of the Bead Town mural project at the Gary Career Center has been arching toward a world record, a recognition that came Monday, May 15.

Now, three years later with the help of over 2,000 painters, many of whom didn’t know that recycled Mardi Gras beads, bottle tops, screws, and nails could be assembled into an appreciated and long lasting work of art.

Mike Janela, a Guinness World Records judge, certified Gary’s Bead Town mural “Life in the French Quarter,” at 96-feet wide and 8-feet high as the World’s Largest Bead Mural.

Along with the record setting mural, the Career Center’s Bead Town includes a collection called “Home.” This Indiana-themed work has images of the Jackson 5, state flag and maps, homes of students, Indiana scenes, and one of Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.

That art can transform and inspire is the link that brought Wanger to Gary.

On a visit to New Orleans, Gary schools Supt. Cheryl Pruitt was inspired by a mural that school children had created from recycled beads. Wanger, who had organized the school children’s project, was among the thousands of volunteers that came to help the city recover after the disaster of Hurricane Katrina. Wanger said those volunteers were inspiration for the mural – working together, recycling and rebuilding.

“Life in the French Quarter” is Wanger’s second Guinness World Record. While in New Orleans, he earned his first world record in 2013 for the 384-foot mural “A Main Street in New Orleans.” Two years later, at Arlanda Airport in Stockholm, Sweden, Väringaskolan School took the record away from Bead Town with a mural measuring 431.95 feet.

Supt. Pruitt said she invited Wanger to Gary “to empower our youth.” Students at New Tech High School, based in the Career Center, were given the opportunity to volunteer for the in-school project. They even came to school on weekends.

Arica Buchanan is the ‘mom of Bead Town.’ For the last 2 years, she volunteered to transport students on weekdays after school and weekends. “I pick them up, get them breakfast on weekends and take them home. And I fuss at them, too. That’s why I’m the mom.”

Thousands of volunteers from northwest Indiana came to spend an hour or a day at Bead Town. The Legacy Foundation became a partner and made a donation of $42,500.

Gary’s Bead Town used about 10 million beads said Wanger. Bead Town will run through the end of May, then go on tour.

Story Posted:05/21/2017