Earlier this month, the Arts Council of the Morris Area unveiled a beautiful outdoor mural at Morristown’s Neighborhood House, as a part of the Council’s Mural Arts Project.
The Council selected artist Cesar Viveros-Herrera, who has created many large murals for Philadelphia’s widely-acclaimed Mural Arts Program, to complete a 35′ x 35′ installation on the Flagler Street side of Neighborhood House.
More than 500 volunteers helped paint part of the mural which highlights the history and impact of Neighborhood House, founded in 1898 as a settlement house to help Italian immigrants acclimate. For more than a century now, they have continued to help new immigrants as well as families facing economic challenges, while also working to foster cross-cultural acceptance.
“There are not many outdoor murals [in the region],” says Viveros-Herrera. “For Morristown to have an outdoor mural is a huge milestone. It’s going to open the door for more artists to do outdoor murals.”
The mural is divided into 49 separate, lightweight 5′ x 5′ panels which helped give the artist and volunteers flexibility in the painting process. When completed, all 49 panels were permanently affixed to the Neighborhood House building.
Kadie Dempsey, the Director of Local Arts for the Arts Council, expresses hope that both the process of creating a mural, as well as the mural itself, “will inspire and energize the community and underscore the value of the arts in our lives.”