ANN ARBOR, MI - There's a colorful new mural paying tribute to Ann Arbor's Water Hill neighborhood.

"Welcome to Water Hill" is the message now adorning the Miller Avenue railroad underpass at the entrance to the neighborhood from downtown.

The painting features a depiction of the Huron River, along with the hills, trees and houses that make up Water Hill, and signs for some of the neighborhood's water-themed streets such as Spring, Fountain and Brooks.

It's the work of a group of teens from the Neutral Zone teen center in Ann Arbor, all of whom have ties to the neighborhood.

Young artists work on the mural at the Miller Avenue railroad underpass in Ann Arbor. On the ladder is Zev Miklethun. Below, from left to right, are Zane Jones, Zeke Casteel and Casey Klobucar.

That includes project leader Casey Klobucar and Zev Miklethun, both students at Skyline High; Sam Brown, a student at Washtenaw Technical Middle College; and Zeke Casteel and Zane Jones, both students at Community High.

They received permission from the Ann Arbor Railroad to do the mural and worked under the guidance of Mary Thiefels, visual arts program coordinator for the Neutral Zone, with funding from the nearby Bloom marijuana dispensary.

Klobucar, who grew up on Fountain Street, said he feels privileged to have grown up in Water Hill and he sees the mural as one way of giving back.

"I've always loved walking around, walking my dog, and just meeting new people on the streets of Water Hill," he said. "It's a great place to grow up."

Klobucar, a 16-year-old junior at Skyline, said he's thankful to live in a community where he has a chance to do the kind of art he loves.

"So many opportunities have come up for me in terms of art and public art in Ann Arbor and it's just great that I have such an outlet through Mary and the Neutral Zone that I can express myself creatively," he said.

Thiefels, owner of TreeTown Murals, was arrested when she was 19 for doing a mural with her friends late at night at the Felch Street railroad underpass in Ann Arbor. The charges were later dropped after the railroad company and neighbors expressed support for their artistic efforts.

Ever since, Thiefels, now 38, has had a cooperative relationship with the Ann Arbor Railroad and has overseen a number of mural projects at the underpasses, including in recent years leading teens from the Neutral Zone.

"Hanging out with teenagers keeps me young," she said.

Thiefels said the underpasses have become a canvas for rotating artworks, and street artists understand their works are impermanent.

"It's kind of starting to become an emerging street artists program," she said. "At least, organically, that's what's happening."

Another new mural at the Huron Street railroad underpass was done by Pat Wuethrich, a former Pioneer High foreign exchange student from Switzerland, during a recent visit to Ann Arbor.

Another new mural at the Huron Street railroad underpass was done by Pat Wuethrich, a former Pioneer High foreign exchange student from Switzerland, during a recent visit to Ann Arbor.

"She was 18 when I met her. She's 23 now," Thiefels said, adding she encouraged Wuethrich to do the mural and lined up a permit from the railroad company.

In the case of the new Water Hill mural, Thiefels said the idea came from Dori Edwards of the Bloom dispensary at 423 Miller Ave.

Thiefels presented the idea to a group of young graffiti artists at the Neutral Zone and they worked with Edwards to design the mural.

Thiefels said the teens involved range in age from 15 to 17 and all have a love for graffiti art culture.

Thiefels believes it's important to provide young people who want to do graffiti art with a channel for expressing themselves creatively.

She's gotten to know many of them through a visual arts collective at the Neutral Zone that meets on Wednesday afternoons to do collaborative projects.

Thiefels said the Miller Avenue underpass is actually where she did her first mural with permission from the Ann Arbor Railroad.

In the late 1990s, after what happened on Felch Street, she and her friends received permission to paint new murals on several of the underpasses.

"In the graffiti culture, there's constant covering up, but the idea is that you always do something better," Thiefels said of new murals replacing older ones.

Klobucar and his friends used a combination of painting techniques for the Miller Avenue mural, using brushes, rollers and about 30 cans of spray paint.

"We all are very accustomed to spray paint, but we use all mediums," he explained, adding he prefers spray paint.

Klobucar said he hopes acceptance of graffiti culture continues to increase and that it becomes more mainstream in the art world.

"And at some point, hopefully everybody will realize graffiti is one of the finest arts," he said.

Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com.