Mural underway at Lagniappe Foods,
South Jefferson Street,
Orange
Valley Arts, an arts based urban renewal movement in the Valley
neighborhood of Orange, with the support of the Dodge Foundation,
has launched its first community mural project on the outside of
the Lagniappe Foods building on South Jefferson Street. The
movement is driven by Individual artists, retailers, business
owners, residents, the Orange school district, the City of
Orange, and local social service organizations, all see the arts
as an engine for community and economic growth and all drive
activities and programs which make that growth happen.
Jay
Hoffman, a fine artist and resident of Orange, is working with a
diverse group of community minded youth, teens, and adults who
offered their vision for an inspiring visual reference for the
people of Orange. They shared their hope for positive change, and
their desire for the places and sights of their neighborhood to
be beautiful and to tell the story of their lives. The group met
in the Arts Unbound gallery, that occupies the now refurbished
and once dilapidated Brass Factory on Freeman Street. There, they
shared ideas for artistic images and symbols intended to
communicate progress, forward motion, and a bright vision for the
future of the valley, redefined as an arts destination. Jay
created a design concept that is currently underway in an
installment of a 30' x 80' mural on the wall facing the Stetson
Bar on South Jefferson Street. Community members are helping Jay
paint his design and encourages others who are interested to meet
him down at the wall and pick up a paint brush. For more
information, please contact Catherine Lazen at 973.202.1882.
As people ride to
and from New York on the train, they will be able to look out
into the valley and see a central design element, a trompe l'oeil
style rendering of a tunnel, which seems to continue from Stetson
Street under the railroad trestle. The fact that the facade of
the decades-old Stetson Bar, which faces the mural, is made of
stones excavated from the Holland and Lincoln tunnels makes the
image of the tunnel all the more meaningful. Upon closer
inspection, the "interior walls" of the tunnel depict artistic
movements throughout time. Ancient cave paintings appear "back in
time", and the works of modern-day painters such as local artist,
George Innes, from the Hudson River School, and a work of Hoffman
himself will appear in the foreground of the tunnel's interior.
The mouth of the tunnel represents an opening into the present
and future, and an invitation to the community to embrace its
own potential for artistic expression.
Surrounding the tunnel are
art nouveau design elements that trace natural and botanical
images to represent growth, change. A graceful tree-like design
features delicate roots that speak to the rich cultural
underpinnings of the Orange community. Throughout its branches,
images of hats and human figures "hide" as reminders of the
valley's industrial identity. Architectural stone carvings are
whimsically placed, inspired by historic buildings of Orange,
such as St. John's School and the Old Masonic Temple. A window,
also in art nouveau style, is a view into the past and out into
the future. The mural, set to be completed by Spring of 2008,
will also feature whimsical images that celebrate local history
and culture such as an "Edison" light bulb, and a fish, which
will "escape" from a rendered "crack" in the wall surface. The
fish acknowledges the seafood distribution business that thrives
behind the wall, and its owner, Tom Dowd, a committed supporter
of Valley Arts, and 2007 winner of a
Housing and Neighborhood
Development Services, (HANDS), leadership award.
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