Treehouse Mural and Rainbow Columns

Mill Town Foundation recently invited me to paint a mural in the library of Morningside Community School. This mural was a total joy for me. I painted during school days and had the honor to get to know the students and adults who make up the very special Morningside Community. 

The friendships fostered through supplementing the school with projects like this are the heartbeat of this work. It is about creating the social safety net through nurturing, recognizing, and repetition… and love. A lot of love. To those kids, I am the artist lady. Now they know that they can be an artist too. When we see each other, we look out for each other. 

Artist Statement for Treehouse Mural and Rainbow Columns 

I chose to paint a treehouse because I wanted to create a space that invites folks to take a deep breath and daydream. 
Library murals are a special reminder of how books can transport you to different places in your imagination. For this reason, I chose to paint The Magic Treehouse. I didn’t include the characters from the book because I want everyone seeing the mural to imagine themselves and their friends in the scene. 
The Rainbow Columns include 11 colors, in an attempt to recreate the natural beauty found in the intersection of science and art, and some of my favorite atmospheric phenomena: rainbows and sundogs.
Touch the clouds, take a breath, and remember to let your imagination lead the way.

Shapes of Togetherness

In the Spring of 2024, I was able to launch the Let It Shine-Pittsfield High School Public Art Project. The project included twice weekly visits to the school to meet with students. (All students were invited to join.) We discussed how public art gets made, interesting public art from around the world, and how we can improve our own community with public art. 

With inspiration from Williams College professor, Pallavi Sen, we designed a public art installation for Downtown Pittsfield. We selected the pedestrian walkway near the movie theater because it is a place commonly visited by the students, and it was in need of some TLC. The architecture included 4 large former windows that had been boarded up. This became the locations for our tile mural. 

With the students, we designed a collection of shapes, and hand glazed 300 ceramic tiles. We are so happy with the result. The colors and textures of the tiles look so good with the architecture. We are hoping to continue this work with young people in Pittsfield, empowering community members to bring lasting beauty to our small city. 

Morningside Photographic Mural

The Mornignside / YMCA Mural is a large collaboration that I am so proud of. It began with an initiative to make a piece of public art with students from the Morningside Community School to be displayed on North St in Pittsfield, MA. The concept came easily, I have wanted to make a photographic mural, inspired by the French photographer and muralist JR, for quite some time now.

I teamed up with photographer Marina Dominguez and together we pitched the concept to the elementary students. I created a small booklet for each student, outlining our concept and provided lots of photos of JR’s murals. I gave the students space in the booklets to share their design ideas for the mural. We a returned couple weeks later to review the designs they shared in the booklets.

When it was time for the photoshoot we were shocked with the turn out. Initially anticipating a few dozen students, we were in awe of the 173 kids who showed up to participate. Each student shared a little bit with us. They showed us their best moves, their favorite dances, their beautiful smiles, and we did our best to capture their exuberance.

The next phase of the project was editing all their photos into the mural format. After months of planning, here was the moment we were waiting for. What would the mural look like? It took weeks to complete, and resulted in four panels, each 8ft x 11ft. I am so happy to share these playful portraits with everyone visiting our downtown. These students are a vibrant part of our community and their smiles bring us smiles.

Signage for Morningside

Morningside Community School was built in 1974 in the heart of the Morningside neighborhood in Pittsfield. Mill Town Foundation recognizes that the school is a hub of the community, and investing in the school will better the neighborhood. Mill Town invited me on a walk through with the administration of the school, and when they asked if  “I could make this place look like a place for children” I set out to design some quick, new signage for the school. I didn’t want to create any challenges for installation or implementation, so I kept it simple. The school community has shared such nice feedback about this project. I am so happy to be able to brighten their days.

Amplifier Mural

The newly formed public partnership, Let It Shine, has come together to make art accessible to all, building confidence in Pittsfield, and creating stronger ties between residents and their downtown. This included a Public Art workshop through the Boys and Girls Club. For this project I spoke with the middle schoolers about Public Art from around the world, and projects happening in their neighborhoods. 

I am very inspired by the social justice work done by the Amplifier organization. I shared with the students the power of art in activism. We selected a collection of the Amplifier posters, available free on the website. We had the posters printed large and together we wheat pasted the posters to a wall in downtown Pittsfield. The posters share the message of connecting with nature and neighbors, centering togetherness and a growth mindset.

Seven Stars for Rene Ave.

I was very excited to make this mural on Rene Ave in Pittsfield, Ma. The project was a collaboration between myself, the building owners and the City of Pittsfield. The design is inspired by quilt and ceramic tile patterns, and the colors come from the architecture surrounding the mural.