Kellick provides update on Academy Park mural

By Maureen Kellick

Summer 2024 brings new art projects to our Lower River community, enhancing Lewiston’s identity as an artistic and historic community, and providing enjoyment to our residents and visitors. 

The Lewiston Council on the Arts, in partnership with the Village and the Town of Lewiston, and with the funding support of the Niagara River Greenway, launched the 2024 Lewiston Public Art Project. The featured element is a large, full-building mural designed for the Academy Park comfort station on South Ninth Street. 

The concept of the four-wall mural design is a sweeping, continuous image reflecting the natural beauty of Lewiston’s Niagara River Greenway – our abundant orchards, vineyards, farmland and wildlife – which also provides visitors, cyclers and residents with photo ops on all four sides of the building. 

The mural has been progressing over the past two weeks, with work on the west and south walls.

Preparation for painting the mural at Academy Park started the first week of May, and painting of the west wall has quickly progressed to the south side of the building. Week three of the mural painting has begun.

Project Overview

Lewiston’s Academy Park building location is a central destination on the 14-mile-plus bike trail from the Falls to the mouth of the river. Appropriately, the mural’s graphic depiction of the river’s gorge and escarpment region offers visual inspiration and a visitor-friendly destination stop within the Village of Lewiston. In a unique collaboration with fellow artist Dan Buttery, the project will blend the imagery of painting with a sculptural, 3-D element, providing a special experience for viewers. Buttery’s sculptural additions to the mural will feature a dimensional, full-scale tree-bench designed for the north wall, creating a beautiful spot to rest and take in the surrounding park, and, for a brief moment, become a “part” of the mural.

•West wall: The mural starts at the mouth of Lake Ontario, with Fort Niagara at the north point, and presents a sweeping view of the fertile River Region below the Niagara Escarpment: Niagara’s farmlands, orchards, wine vineyards. The ribbon of river of fish and birds winds (from top left across bottom to front) toward the right/south wall of the building corner.

√ Visitor photo op spot: This wall will be the most visible backdrop for concerts, events and the Peach Festival held on site at Academy Park. The section reflects the nature and history of the River Region, ideal for pedestrians and cyclists.

•South wall: The mural’s west wall design wraps around to the south building wall, depicting the continuation of the Niagara River south to the Rainbow Bridge and the Niagara Escarpment. A full-size classic bicycle stands at the bike trail (foreground). The shared border between the U.S. and Canada takes the viewers’ eye up river to the distant point of the mural, where the flags of the U.S. and Canada are visible above Niagara Falls.

The artist’s composition visually reflects the geological history of the Niagara River from the original location of Niagara Falls, the creation of the escarpment and its natural evolution 7 miles upriver to the current location of the falls.

√ Visitor photo op spot: The south wall will be visible to cyclists arriving on the bike trail down from the escarpment as they enter the River Region/Village of Lewiston. Pedestrian visitors and cyclists will enjoy posing by the bike or with their own bicycles at this location.

•Stay tuned for additional updates and photos, as mural work continues this month.

For more on Lewiston artist Maureen Kellick, visit www.MaureenKellickGallery.com.