Photo courtesy of Belleville Township: A collaboration between the Township, Belleville High School art students and a local artist has transformed a swath of concrete wall into a piece of art.

It takes a village to help beautify a township.

Thanks to a united effort from many – including budding Belleville High School artists and one local painter with a lot of talent and pride in her adopted home – a large swath of concrete wall along the Passaic River has been transformed into a sprawling work of art.

The space is now a celebration of the Township’s world-famous cherry blossoms – wholly appropriate because Belleville is The Cherry Blossom Capital of America.

The Cherry Blossom Art Mural greets visitors with long, twisting branches covered in life-like blossoms. It is proudly emblazoned with the words “Welcome to Belleville,” with the town’s name bursting in cherry-blossom pinks and lavenders, and etched in yellow.

“To see the length of an unsightly concrete embankment transformed into an attractive canvas completely covered in soft branching cherry blossom flowers is going to be exciting and satisfying to all who see it,” Mayor Michael Melham said.

The painting of the wall was coordinated by Athena Zhe, an artist who has settled in Belleville after relocating some 5,000 miles from her native Ukraine.

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