Students at Emily Brittain Elementary School helped paint the back of a bench that was created by local artist Tom Panei and installed on Thursday, May 30. Irina Bucur/Butler Eagle
Students at Emily Brittain Elementary School helped install the first piece of what will become the Inspiration Trail in Butler on Thursday morning, May 30, after months of preparing the bench featuring images they are inspired by.The dictionary-shaped bench features images of a Jeep, a monarch butterfly and a Golden Tornado on it, which were each painted by area artist Tom Panei, based on a survey distributed to students of the school.
The bench is the first art piece of the Inspiration Trail, which itself is part of the Butler Rotary Club PM’s Rotary Cultural District.
Panei said the bench was built in Chicago and shipped to his studio, where he worked on it for two weeks straight to get it installed before the last day of school.
“My wife and I came up with a survey, certain places and ideas that inspired them,” Panei said. “We went through that and got about 20 ideas, and they got to choose from those 20 as to what would be on the bench.”
Leslie Osche, project manager for the cultural district through Butler Rotary Club PM, said the bench is not only a love letter to Butler but is dedicated to a longtime Rotarian, Alan “Al” McGrath, who died in 2021.
“Al did our dictionary project,” Osche said. “He would do dictionaries for third-graders and go into classrooms and present the students with dictionaries.”
There is another bench in the works at Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School, which will eventually be placed in Ritts Park and be part of the Inspiration Trail, according to Osche. There will also be more art and benches created by students and other residents of Butler placed within the district, which is bordered by East Jefferson, North Main, Howard, North McKean and Franklin streets.
Osche said the bench’s installation is encouraging, because it is visible at Emily Brittain Elementary, and people may look more into what it is and what it represents.
“We’re really excited to see one of the benches finally in and up,” Osche said.
Panei said the dictionary bench is one of the most unique projects he has ever worked on, which was made even more fun thanks to the involvement of local youths.
“It was all the kids' ideas; I was very pleased with the outcome,” Panei said. “It was definitely fun, and the kids were really excited about it.”
