A new mural inside the Hopkinsville Boys and Girls Clubs’ FabLab isn’t technically a self-portrait of the 16-year-old girl who created it.
But anyone admiring the painting can appreciate that Genesis Allen has a few things in common with the mural’s central figure — a female knight, who stands sentry outside a castle that represents the club.
A girl of color, the knight is strong and determined, and right in the thick of things.
Holding a shield and sword, the female knight is protecting the castle from the dragon’s huge blast of fire.
“I knew I wanted something with a dragon because I just thought they were cool … and I wanted something that you could put the BGC logo on, so I had the castle in there,” Genesis said in an interview with Hoptown Chronicle.
After weeks of planning, sketching and painting, the mural has been completed just in time for a 20th anniversary celebration on Aug. 6. At least a few hundred guests are expected that day for the annual BGC Great Futures Luncheon and for a dedication of the new Wade Family Gymnasium.
Genesis, who is a rising junior at Hopkinsville High School, created the mural on drawing pages after BGC director Terrence Davis asked her to help with a concept. Hopkinsville artist Jennifer Bowman then assisted by sketching out Genesis’ concept on a wall inside the FabLab, which is part of the BGC Teen Club.
“I wanted it to be a girl because girls can help protect things, too,” said Genesis.
Bowman understood that message as soon as they started working on the mural.
“I just love everything about it — the positive message, the fact that it is coming from a young person and a talented person,” she said.
Bowman said she considered herself an assistant on the project. Genesis led, she said.
Genesis has been drawing for several years but her opportunity to learn more about artistry came during the pandemic. When schools shifted to virtual learning, she starting watching drawing tutorials online.
“We had to stay home … so I just really learned how to draw then,” she said.
About three years ago, Genesis and a brother moved to Hopkinsville with their mom, who signed the children up for membership in the Boys and Girls Clubs.
“I didn’t really want to come here,” she said. “My mom had signed us up so we would have some place to go after school. I was very angry.”
Genesis said her attitude about the club eventually changed, as did her school work. College has become a priority. She recently spent a couple of days at Hopkinsville Community College for an immersion program, and she’ll be taking a dual-credit English class through HCC this year.
In another year, Genesis will be a member of the first graduating class at the new Christian County High School. She was a member of the student advisory council for the new school, and a brick inscribed with her name is part of the new campus off Fort Campbell Boulevard.
Genesis also has a podcast, “10 with Gen,” that is produced at the Boys and Girls Clubs’ FabLab. Her first podcast interview was with Hopkinsville Mayor James R. Knight Jr. She also interviewed the BGC gym benefactor Tommy Wade, and she’ll sit down with Jim Clark, national president and CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs, when he is in town for the 20th anniversary events.
The change that Genesis has experienced at the BGC is the kind of thing that keeps Davis and others working for the program.
“It was cool to be trusted by all of these adults around me to handle something like this,” Genesis said as she and Bowman finished painting a long wall in the FabLab, an area that houses podcasting and recording studios, 3-D printing equipment, a fashion studio and sewing machines. It is designed to encourage entrepreneurial projects, including a T-shirt business that has already had $25,000 in sales.
Now Genesis’ mural — the dragon, the girl knight and the castle — will share space with these projects and the dozens of other students who might find personal growth at the club.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
