Painting the Town Red…and Blue and Orange!
People have been painting on walls since the days of the cavemen, but only in the past few years have murals been making a prominent appearance in Easton. And the latest artist to grace an Easton wall with her art is the youngest one yet.
Madison Scott first became aware of the Easton Murals Project last year, when her visiting uncle saw its trademark “There should be a mural here” sign on a city wall and encouraged her to apply. When a call for artist submissions went out earlier this year, the teachers of her independent study art class at Delaware Valley Regional High School gave her the nudge she needed. “They knew this was a goal of mine to paint a large-scale mural outside,” says Scott.
The 16-year-old from Holland, N.J., completed a design for the 110-foot long, 6-foot high retaining wall at the corner of Spring Garden Street and Larry Holmes Drive, in sight of the Delaware River, and wrote an essay describing her concept.
“It’s a tribute to the past, present, and future of Easton.”
Titled “Sipu,” the Lenape word for river, the design features a series of orange and blue mandalas that resemble waves. “I wanted a design that would incorporate mandalas and make it look like it was mine, and I thought waves would be perfect. It reflects on the Delaware. And it’s a tribute to the past, present, and future of Easton,” she says.
Scott submitted her design and essay with no guarantee that she would be selected. But the selection committee was quite impressed with her essay, “and we really loved the design on top of it,” says Amy Boccadoro, assistant manager of the Easton Main Street Initiative, which runs the Easton Murals Project in collaboration with Brick + Mortar Gallery owners Tom D’Angelo and Chaz Hampton.
The initial phase of the Easton Murals Project, which began in fall 2016, focuses on high-profile locales in the downtown area to bring attention to the program and help raise funds. Eventually, the goal is to expand into the surrounding neighborhoods. The project connects wall owners with artists and helps secure the funding to make the walls come alive. “Most locations start with a mural request from the building owner,” says D’Angelo.
Scott’s mural, the project’s third to date, is on a wall co-owned by Clay Mitman of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and Tomias Hinchcliff of Genesis Bicycles. “Everyone sees it,” Scott says, adding that it’s visible coming across the bridge from New Jersey.
Scott started the mural in early May, working around her school and work schedule. With the help of family and friends, she projected the design on the wall, drew it out, and applied the various shades of blue and orange. The final, painstaking stage involved going over the black lines of the designs to bring her mandalas to the foreground.
Mandalas, which Scott describes as a “style of drawling using multiple lines in a pattern, repeated the same way,” are key to her art. She incorporates them into products like T-shirts, cards, and candles, which she sells at craft shows and stores. Her business success earned her the 2016 NAWBO Central Jersey Barbara A. Fuller SEED Award, presented to a New Jersey entrepreneur between the ages of 10 and 18. Scott, who will be a senior this fall, started her business as a freshman.
“Art has given me an opportunity to meet people I never would have met, to make business contacts, and to learn to speak to people, which is something other kids my age don’t always get to do,” she says.
But despite her success with her art, Scott does not intend to pursue it in college. Instead, she plans to major in business and marketing, which may very well be the practical knowledge she needs to help effectively promote her creative pursuits in the future.
Where to Find the Easton Murals
Location: Spring Garden St. & Larry Holmes Dr.
Artist: Madison Scott, Holland, N.J.
Completion date: June 2018
Location: 118-120 Northampton St.
Artist: Scott Albrecht, New York
Completion date: November 2017
Location: 49 N. Bank St.
Artist: Giancarlo DeMarchi, Easton
Completion date: August 2017
Location: 133 N. Fourth St.
Artist: TBD
Completion date (estimated): September 2018
Get Involved!
If you’re an artist aspiring to paint a mural, or simply an art lover hoping to bring more color to Easton’s bare walls, visit eastonmurals.org for updates on the next open call for artists or to make a donation. “We have no shortage of walls,” says Boccadoro. “It’s the funding we need, which allows us to pay the artists and purchase supplies.”
EastonMurals.org
