TLDR: Mural is done. Lots of work, super fun. Walking tour on August 9 (RSVP here).
After months of prep and 10 days of painting, the Barrier Reefs mural is now complete. (We actually finished 3 weeks ago, but I needed a little time before I was ready to write this post).
This is truly my biggest project to date. In case you missed it - Barrier Reefs is a very big mural. The design is an organic, non-repeating pattern that spans approximately a half mile in length along Clinton Street Bike Path, from South Street to Delancey Street in the Lower east side neighborhood of Manhattan.
The design was inspired by the abundant flora and fauna found in the New York Harbor Estuary. Each abstracted shape depicts a different sessile species: Eastern Oysters, Blue Mussels, Northern Quahog, Sea Lettuce, Barnacles, Sea Grapes, Chain Tunicates, and Red Beard Sponges. The species depicted were inspired by the research within the Billion Oyster Project’s Species Identification Guide.
As practice makes is all about the process, I thought I would start there. A vague step by step of how you paint a half-a mile long mural (or at least, how I did it).
1. Panic.
Be careful what you wish for, or apply for, it may actually come true. Once the joy of being awarded such a large project by the NYC DOT’s Art Program wore off, I panicked. How on earth was I supposed to pull this off? It became clear very quickly, I would need a lot of help.
2. Assemble a crew.
I absolutely could not have done this without the amazing staff and volunteers of the Lower East Side Ecology Center, the Billion Oyster Project, and some wonderful friends and former colleagues. I was blown away at how dedicated folks were to this project, and their eagerness to paint in the street, in the heat, in the summer, early in the morning, when you could be doing a number of more fun things was truly astounding to me. I think people really have a desire to participate in their community in a hands on way.
3. Buy/assemble a lot of stuff
Rollers, trays, brushes, obviously, but I also bought a lot of things in-between painting sessions that I never would have thought of at the beginning. The plastic bags newspapers come in and doggy poop bags became an essential part of the painting process, in order to keep paintbrushes damp and fresh when volunteers were taking breaks and the sun was beating down. Caution tape was also essential to keep folks safe while painting. Some bikers would slowdown or even shout their thanks while still slowly peddling forward, but others were not pleased we were taking up their space. Caution tape strung along traffic cones helped to keep everyone safe.
And, as I quickly learned, you can never have too many snacks to offer volunteers.
I used Backdrop Paint (Surf Camp, Saturday on Sunday, Drive Thru Safari, Tanlines, and Negroni). Backdrop Paint colors are beautiful and had great application to the concrete. By sheer coincidence Drive Thru Safari green and Tanlines yellow is almost the EXACT same green and yellow found in the New York City bike lane.
I don’t know if that information will be useful to anyone, ever but there it is.
4. “Finalize” the design and start painting
Before arriving on the painting site, I supplied DOT with a design concept. However this concept doesn’t match the end result. The final species painted isn’t the exact list of species I set out to paint at the beginning of this process and some logistical design decisions were made along the way.
This may be obvious in retrospect but the people that I worked with greatly defined the final result. The mural was painted by a 40 person crew of volunteers, many with no prior painting experience, so it was important to make the painting process as simple as possible. One of the amazing things to come out of this experience was watching an assembly line painting process organically unfolded before my eyes. No one really defined this process at any time - certainly not me - it simply happened.
Select a location and Stencil the shape.
Block (or “fill in”) shapes with a roller, leaving a good inch of space before touching the stenciled edge.
Edge, paint the crisp edge of the shape with a brush, connecting back to the blocked in center.
Again this sounds obvious that this would be the process, but remember that this was an organic non-repeating pattern. I had created stencils of each species but it was up to volunteers to take the stencils and decide where to place them, in what orientation, and how frequently. I shared a few guidelines with volunteers of how to select “good” placement but I wanted the end result to be as organic and natural as possible. This really meant giving up control and trusting volunteers.
And people really ran with it, I think having this level of independence really excited folks. They were not just painting by numbers they were making important design decisions. It made the process more thoughtful and more fun.
The edging and blocking process was also a volunteer invention.
It became clear that some people were happier with the more detail attentive work of perfectly outlining shapes while others wanted to spin the roller and quickly feel the progress being made. Thankfully there was a job for both of these groups.
Splitting up the process in this way meant that every single element on the mural was completed by multiple people. No one can really point at a piece of the mural and say, I did this completely, it was all a group effort.
What I love about the end result is that, despite the fact that there were over 40 painters on site over 10 days, and each person really had the opportunity to put their personal touch on the piece, the final mural looks like a seamless singular vision.
5. Enjoy the process
Throughout this process some friends and fellow artists shared thoughts with me that really took hold of me. Over coffee in the spring, friend and artist Bridgette Zou said to me “enjoy the process”. This really gave me pause. I was still in step 1 - Panic - and had temporarily forgotten, oh I really wanted to do this. I’m going to get to paint a public mural!
I then re-thought my plans - instead of trying to knock it out as quickly and efficiently as possible, I should slow down and enjoy the process as I do with any other creative work. It will be over before I know it.
I enjoyed the experience in a way I didn’t expect - we were painting in public - in full view of people passing by - but instead of stressing about people in a cafe peering over my shoulder and judging my bad sketches, I was with a team of people in the community, working clearly very hard to improve the neighborhood.
The many, many people in the community who stopped to ask questions, or shouted their appreciation of our hard work, or who voiced their approval of the design, or who just said “thank you” was an incredibly gratifying and motivating experience.
Many artist talk about the pleasures and dangers of the immediate gratification of posting art on instagram - painting a public mural is like this x100. These were real people who did not have to say anything, who could have just walked along and kept their thoughts to themselves, but who took time out of their day to engage with the artwork. Some folks even returned on a later date to join our team of volunteers!
This was incredibly motivating and exhilarating. I was really enjoying the process.
But around day seven of painting my friend Casey Opstad, who has painted some incredible public murals himself, asked “how are you sleeping?” and it was at that moment I realized, oh my god I haven’t been sleeping. Painting on a half mile long canvas, for days, in the sun, in the still active bike lane, can (unsurprisingly) be mentally and physically exhausting. I was thinking about the mural and what had to happen next day and night. Suddenly I couldn’t wait to cross the finish line.
And then suddenly it was over.
And, I really miss it.
6.Celebrate and move on to the next.
With the Billion Oyster project I am planning a small celebration and walking tour on August 9 from 5 - 6:30 (RSVP here).
Agata Poniatowski will share information about the Billion Oyster Project's restoration efforts and the abundant species that call the New York Harbor Estuary home. And I will lead a walking tour of the mural, pointing out the abstracted shapes that were inspired by the sessile species in the Billion Oyster Project's Species Identification Guide, and explain the painting process, to those that didn’t experience it first hand.
I am incredibly proud of what I accomplished in Barrier Reefs and am looking forward to this opportunity to celebrate with volunteers and friends.
In the meantime, I have already applied to another open call for a mural project in Atlanta, and am on the look out for others a bit closer to home.
When I started my artist journey “muralist” was not my intention, but I’m having a lot of fun, and really enjoying the process, despite the sometimes sleepless nights, so here we are.
Loved reading about this process, congratulations!