Beacon Muralist Rick Price Gives the Library a New Face

First Person

by Rick Price

This project began when I first moved to Beacon from San Francisco, in the early fall of 2004. I’d heard about all the artists and creative types who’d moved to Beacon and I’d read the articles about Beacon being part of an art renaissance in the Hudson Valley. Despite this, I didn’t see any public art in town with the exception of a lone, incomplete mural on Main St.

I was a muralist when I lived in California, having worked on several community, private, and commercial projects, and I’d read about several cities such as Athens and Chemainus, that had commissioned murals which themselves had become a draw for tourism. I imagined this as a possibility for Beacon as well, so I began talking to people and asking questions, eventually meeting Dennis Pavelock, who arranged for me to speak in front of the City Council.

That night, as I made my presentation to the City Council, Marcia Frahman—president of the Library Board of Trustees—was sitting in the audience. Several months after the meeting, when a proposed new library was voted down, Marcia contacted me. She figured that if there was not going to be a new building, we could at least make the former 1950’s converted department store look a little prettier until it might again be possible to put a new Library building to a vote.

I met with the Library Board of Trustees in early 2006 and presented my idea to them. The mural would illustrate the influence and significance of the library in the communities of Beacon and Fishkill and emphasize the importance of libraries and reading in general.

Painted on four sheets of plywood and installed on the blank space to the left of the Main Street entrance of the library, the mural features a tree of knowledge growing from the foundation of the Howland Cultural Center, which was the original Howland Library. Sprouting from this foundation are books on many subjects and in many languages. Around the tree are abstract figures of all ages, creeds, and orientations, each of them either plucking knowledge from the tree, or in the act of making that knowledge their own. They all appear as if they are pages from a larger book, each with their own story and history. The background is an abstract view of Beacon, with Mount Beacon, the incline railway, the war memorial, fire tower, Hudson River, the Woody Guthrie, and other things hidden throughout the mural that are the essence of Beacon. Painting it on plywood makes the project portable, so in the future it can be moved to the site of a new Library building.

The board approved the basic design and with an initial donation from Marcia, they commissioned me to come up with a larger, more precise sketch or maquette (a larger scale model) to present to them for final approval.

I created the maquette by combining a quilt-like collage of magazine images and paint and the library board approved the design. The only problem was that they could no longer financially support it as they had previously hoped. We would have to secure private donations and grants to fund the painting, construction, and safe installation of the mural. So now, in addition to searching for independent grants, we are also searching for donations of any kind to help complete the mural. Also, we recently discovered that there are no laws in Beacon pertaining to public art and that we may have to categorize the Library mural as a “sign” in order to even have it legally hanging on Main Street. Hopefully this project will help to bring about change in the City with regard to public art.

The Library Board may not see themselves as trailblazers, but their decision was an exciting step for me and another step toward a brighter future for public art in Beacon. Not long after I started the maquette, Kate McKeown and Gary O’Conner at the Beacon Cultural Foundation at Bulldog Studios got wind of the project and my search for space to paint the 8’ x 16’ mural. They were able to donate a space to the mural project with the assistance of artist Stephen Reinhart, who had to leave his studio for health reasons, but who wanted the remaining two months of his lease to go to a good cause. In addition, Beacon resident Tom Baldino donated money for the plywood painting surface, and Gary at Sun Paint and Supply, and Nicole Ashey at Beacon Art Supply have also donated supplies to the project.

This has been such an amazing project to be a part of. I’ve met new friends and found the heart of Beacon’s community. It is my hope that in addition to beautifying Main Street and paving the way for more public art in Beacon, that the mural will also draw more people from all over the area into the library to share the riches it has to offer, and perhaps slowly build support for another chance at a new Library sometime in the future.

Rick Price
Beacon, NY

Donations for the Mural at Howland Library are currently being accepted. Make checks payable to the Howland Public Library with a designation stating that the money is for the mural. You can drop check off at the library or send it to 313 Main Street Beacon, NY 12508.

Comments

[c vesuvius]

Kudos to the Beacon Cultural Foundation for donating the space and making this happen. And kudos for their genosity in getting Jennifer Sipple's art classes going, and for Kathy Moss's Senior Art class as well . . . and for Green Teens and Mill Street Loft, and for their donation to the Beacon Historical Society and all the other programs in the old high school.

[John]

Marcia Frahman has been quoted in the Free Press regarding this Mural and how they will agressively pursue donations and grants so as not to burden the taxpayers. This is the same Marcia Frahman who so bitterly attacked in print the voters and taxpayers in this district as being "mean spirited" and "misguided" after the building vote was decisively defeated. This mural may cost thousands of dollars while the building proposal was going to saddle the taxpayers with a 12 Million dollar debt. I would like to know why the library board did not agressively pursue grants and donations for the 12 Million dollar library instead of simply seeking to soak the taxpayers for the new building. There is also a message in this article and taxpayers should be very wary of Ms. Frahman and the board of trustees of the Howland Library. This library board now led by Ms. Frahman will be back some day perhaps soon to try again and get the 12 Million dollars or more of taxpayer funds that they still believe they are entitled to.