Somerville is painting a 100-foot-long mural together

East Somerville is calling on its residents to help paint a massive mural, part of a grant-sponsored arty overhaul in the area under the banner “This is East.”

Area artists of all skill levels turned out to begin work on the hundred-foot-long piece on Friday, tracing its outlines by following along with an image projected on the wall. Three more community paint days were scheduled for Aug. 6, 7 and 13, 4-8 p.m. Paint and brushes would be available to all, organizers said.

The in-progress mural would be a decoration across from the brand new Chuckie Harris Park – which used to be a parking lot and now has a killer slide, an unusually wavy terrain and a giant spray pipe that can become a movie screen.

It would also be a piece of art made for East Somerville, by East Somerville – a community that is among the city’s most diverse and has seen an $8 million streetscape improvement project.

In this case, the process is as important as the finished product, said Teresa Vazquez-Dodero, executive director of economic development group East Somerville Main Streets.

“We are trying to highlight the diversity that we have in the neighborhood,” Dodero said. “The whole process for creating the mural has been to bring the community out and express their stories.”

Dodero’s organization was running a three-month-long initiative in the city, supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The “This is East” project also includes collaborations with artists, a bunch of banners highlighting “local heroes,” a film featuring interviews with business owners and Somervillians and a festival planned for October.