Dryden welcomes new mural to Main Street

By Jamie Swinnerton
Tompkins Weekly

 

After delaying for almost a year due to weather, Main Street in the Village of Dryden is a little bit brighter with a brand-new mural paid for by the Community Arts Partnership (CAP). Last year, CAP sent out a call to the municipalities of the county looking for spaces for future murals. The Village of Dryden, after consulting with the building management company, suggested the blank space just above the Dryden Community Center Café. An artist was found, a design was submitted, and since June 16 the art is on full display for the entire community.

Last year, 2017, was the second year that CAP had money for a public art grant, with $10,000 in funds from a private donor, and a few thousand more from the Tompkins County Tourism Program. Robin Schwartz, program director at CAP, reached out to communities across the county looking for public spaces that would be usable for public art.

“I first identified locations, and some of the locations that were identified were ones that the City of Ithaca had already approved,” Schwartz said. “Then I sent out emails to all of the towns and villages because we really wanted to see some murals outside of the City of Ithaca.”

The village contacted Kayla Lane, the property manager for the building that hosts the café, who thought it was a great idea.

CAP put out the call to mural artists from across the state for the spots they had identified for public art. Around 15 applications were submitted, but one artist, Joanne Murphy, specifically asked to submit for the space above the café. After the design was approved Murphy was put in contact with Lane to work out the details of getting the mural on the building.

“There was a year delay because there was so much rain last summer that Kayla’s team of people that needed to prep the building didn’t get to it,” Schwartz said.

The mural submissions had to meet a few criteria. Painting on a canvas is drastically different from painting a brick wall so artists that submitted had to know how to paint an exterior wall. The applications were also judged on the strength of the artist’s concept, even if it was just a mockup. Murphy’s submission was just a drawing that evolved as it was made into reality.

 

Among the other criteria included budget restrictions, timeline, resistance to vandalism and weather, in a publicly accessible place for the area resident to enjoy, and a ‘Wow’ factor for the art.
“We really liked her work,” Schwartz said. “It was very appropriate. We looked on her website and saw some of the other murals she had done, and she sent us slides of other murals that she had done, and it just seemed really appropriate for the Dryden community.”

Murphy is a professional landscape artist from outside of the county. While creating the Dryden mural she added in elements that she had found within the community. Dryden Dairy Day took over downtown while Murphy was working on the mural and the festivities made their way into the art in the form of a young woman Murphy saw playing in one of the bands that performed at the annual community celebration. The barn pictured in the mural is based on a real structure that she spotted while driving around the area. While the mural is in Dryden, Dryden can also be found in the mural.

“I love small towns, it’s my favorite thing about upstate,” Murphy said.

While working in Dryden, Murphy said she met numerous locals who were excited to tell her about their lives and about Dryden. She felt embraced by the community.

“The mural is actually real places I saw,” Murphy said. “I think it’s super important for me, as nuanced as it is, it’s very different from place to place, how the land is formed.”

Being able to construct the mural, right in the center of town over a community gathering place, was a gift, Murphy said. While working on the art and conversing with the community she said she felt very supported.

“I was moved, I was very moved by Dryden,” Murphy said.

This is the first time that Lane said she has been involved in a public art or mural project like this one.

“It’s probably not very often that we have a building that would be in that position to have a mural,” she said. “I’m not sure how many of our other building or location would not only be that exposed for a mural or piece of art, let alone make sense to be on a certain part of the building. So, it stood out and made sense.”

Plans are, Lane said, to keep the mural a permanent part of the building. A little piece of Dryden at the heart of the village.