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It's usually not polite to stare.

But it would be impolite not to stare --- or at least take a good look --- at the new mural taking shape on Market Street, Downtown.

With help from students at McKeesport Area High School, Wilkinsburg and Pittsburgh, nonprofit group called the MLK Community Mural Project is decorating the side of the former Abriola Auto Parts store with a collage of faces: white, black, native American and Asian.

"We've got a good bunch of kids here," says teacher and artist Jeff Katrencik of Houston, Washington County, who is helping lead the team working on the mural Downtown.

The mural is one of about two dozen that will be completed this summer, says artist Edward Rawson of Squirrel Hill, chief operating officer of the MLK project. Another is underway right now at the Port Authority's park and ride lot on Duquesne Boulevard in Duquesne.

Funding is provided in part by National City Bank, with additional support from several local foundations.

Some materials are provided by PPG Industries and Golden Artist Colors of New Berlin, N.Y., Rawson says.

City native Robert Qualters, an artist who has worked on murals throughout the Mon Valley, is among the MLK project's board members.

Founded by artist and graphic designer Kyle Holbrook, the group painted 26 murals last year, primarily along the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway.

"We work with a lot of high school age kids, 15 to 18," Rawson says. "All of them are interested in the arts."

The MLK project's murals have depicted a variety of subjects, including local history, people, places and events. The theme of the mural Downtown is the connection between different people in the community --- friends, family members and neighbors --- and the faces include those of several city residents.

Students working on the community murals are paid for their time, Rawson says.

"We like to get kids from different neighborhoods mixing it up," he says.

When the mural is complete, it will be sealed with a protective anti-graffiti coating supplied by PPG. The MLK project also has a $5,000 maintenance fund for each mural that will provide ongoing repairs for the next 10 years.

Rawson and Katrencik say the students working on the murals are stoked to realize that something they're doing today will remain part of the neighborhood for years to come.

"Sometimes the real story is working with the kids," not the murals themselves, Rawson says.