Murals & Exhibit Painting

Pacific Canoe Hall Mural, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Auckland, New Zealand 1982. 

I worked in the Art Department of the Auckland Museum for two years. During that time, the Museum redesigned the Pacific Canoe Hall which housed their collection of canoes used by Pacific voyagers from the islands of Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Fiji and others. Auckland is the largest Polynesian capital in the world, home to over 300,000 Pacific peoples. In honor of this distinction, part of the Pacific Canoe Hall project involved painting a map of the Pacific Island nations flanked by illustrations of different types of ocean-going crafts used by Pacific peoples. I worked as a team with two other artists to research, design and paint this 50 ft by 20 ft mural on the back wall of the Hall.

Geology Department Panels. Pratt Museum of Natural History, Amherst College. Amherst, Massachusetts

The Pratt Museum of Natural History (now the Beneski Museum) at Amherst College has an impressive three floors of exhibits that includes dinosaur fossil skeletons, dinosaur footprints, displays of minerals and meteorites, and geological exhibits. I painted these panels (no longer is use) in 1983 during one of several subsequent redesigning projects for the exhibit space.

Connecticut River Mural. The Children's Museum at Holyoke, Main Stairway. Holyoke, MA, 2005. 

For a slide show of this mural and mural details, click on the first image and then use the arrows.

I worked at the Children's Museum in Holyoke for several years as the Coordinator of the museum's Junior Volunteer Program, an after-school activity for Holyoke youth (See Mural Projects under Programs With Young People), where I facilitated team mural projects and other art projects. As well, when the Museum recieved grant funding for a museum-wide exhibit about water to celebrate the city of Holyoke's history of industry made possible by the construction of the city's canal system and the Holyoke Dam in 1900, I was hired to paint a mural on the walls of the main staircase showing the Holyoke Dam and the Connecticut River with its huge diversity of wildlife. The mural covered several walls of varying sizes, depicted dozens of species, and took six months to complete. 

Animals of Africa Mural. The Children's Museum at Holyoke, Exploration Room Hallway, Holyoke, MA. 

For a slide show of these paintings, click on the first image and then use the arrows.

I painted this parade of African animals in the hallway leading into the Exploration Room at the Children's Museum at Holyoke. I had worked with a team of young people for more than a year previous to this, designing and painting all four walls of this main meeting room with wildlife in their natural habitats from the four points of the compass. By the time that project was finished, many of the children had moved on to other actvities, so I painted the hallway myself.

Recycling Mural Panels. Hitchcock Center for the Environment, Amherst, MA

Background Panels, Live Animal Tanks. Hitchcock Center for the Environment.

The three mural panels are displayed in the restrooms at the Hitchcock Center and illustrate the natural process of decay and recycling waste material. The tank backgrounds are for a spotted water turtle, a corn snake, and an eastern box turtle displayed in the main lobby.

Portable School Exhibit Boxes. Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, Brewster, MA

Display Panels. Science Building lobby, The Hotchkiss School. Lakeville, CT

Merry-Go-Round Birthday Horses Mural. Holyoke Merry-Go-Round, Birthday Room, Holyoke, MA. 

The Holyoke Merry-Go-Round is a gorgeous antique carousel with hand-carved horses painted brilliant colors. The Merry-Go-Round is one of the main attractions for visitors to the City of Holyoke, and besides providing a uniquely fun activity for the young-at-heart, it also hosts private events such as wedding receptions and birthday parties. I was hired to paint these two panels to decorate the Merry-Go-Round's popular Birthday Room. 

Amherst Farmer's Market Mural. Lobby, Amherst Housing Authority. Amherst, MA 

Celestial Carousel Mural. Pediatric waiting room, Hadley Family Practice. Hadley, MA

Greenfield Community College Anniversary Mural. Main Building lobby, GCC. Greenfield, MA

Murals and Paintings in Private Homes

From time to time I have been asked to paint murals and decorate rooms in someone's private home. Often this work is for children, with the subject matter chosen according to their wishes, and sometimes a homeowner just wants to enliven a particular room or hallway with a full-wall painting. Just as when I work on murals for organizations and in public spaces, I pay careful attention to the wishes of the homeowner and work closely with them to develop the concept of their mural.