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High school student Maddie Gold has been skating at the Birmingham Ice Sports Arena since she was 3 years old.
Photo provided by Maddie Gold
BIRMINGHAM — Fifteen-year-old Maddie Gold has spent the last 12 years skating and making memories at the Birmingham Ice Sports Arena. Now, she has used her passion for art to create a mural to be displayed in the arena’s studio party room.
This spring, the Birmingham Ice Sports Arena asked artists of all ages to submit to the ice arena party room mural contest.
Once the entries came into Engage Birmingham, the public voted on their favorite mural to display on the wall.
“The mural contest was a great success, and the participants did a wonderful job,” Director of Public Services Lauren Wood said.
As the winner of the contest, Gold won a free ice skating party where she can invite friends and family to see her work. The prize includes the use of the studio ice rink, party room and complimentary skate rental.
“Maddie should be very proud to be the first artwork displayed at the newly renovated Birmingham Ice Arena,” Wood said.
Gold said her mom signed her up for skating classes as a fun winter activity, and she has been doing it ever since. When she was 7 years old, Gold joined the Figure Skating Club of Birmingham.
She is now going into her sophomore year at Berkley High School.
Her figure skating coach, Jill Kolaitis, has been teaching Gold since Gold was 3 years old. Gold said Kolaitis has been an important person in her life for a long time.
“She has taught me everything I know about skating,” Gold said.
In addition to skating, Gold also has a passion for creating art.
She said she enjoys drawing, painting with acrylics and watercolors, and creating art digitally. Gold used Adobe Photoshop to create the mural.
She worked on this piece in hour intervals over the course of about two weeks while she was in her school art class
“When I am not skating, I love to draw,” Gold said. “I figured since I have been skating there for so long and it holds such a special place in my heart, that I would be able to create an art piece that would reflect that.”
She also said that her mural speaks to other young skaters who may see themselves in her work.
Since it was going up in the party room, Gold decided to create a piece that would allow the kids in the party room to look up and see kids just like them skating.
“It honestly means (a lot) to me because I feel like I have found a way to combine these two things that I love so much,” Gold said. “Just to have that in the rink that I have basically grown up in means the world to me.”
Gold’s work can be seen in person in the party room once the Birmingham Ice Sports Arena is able to put it up. There is not currently a timeline of when the mural will be up.
