A mural on Cottage Street, across from the old theatre on the side of Whiskerz Pub. Funded by Easthampton City Artswith the support of the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Also sponsored by The Williston Northampton School and Hampton Wholesale Auto, LLC. Above photo by Bob Stern for The Republican.

Labels: 2008, Easthampton Mural, Massachusetts, Special Projects, Typography, Wicked Awesome

From the Masslive Easthampton forum:

"less than mediocre" - 00013

"I know what is appealing to some isn't appealing to all, but in my opinion, the proposed artwork (?) that is going to be displayed on the side of Wiskerz Pub will be an eyesore. I know the merchants on Cottage Street have worked hard to bring the street to what it is now, but to cover an entire side of a building with what looks like nothing more than graffiti is not going to do a thing for the area or Easthampton." - FreedomMom

"it's ugly" - fizzar

"Looks like a sweet design" - Mr Blonde

"The particular graphic design seems more suited to be shown on a smaller scale–perhaps on the cover of a brochure for Easthampton. These large jumbled letters will be mostly meaningless and confusing to drivers-by. I think that to please the majorityin a fairly traditional New England community like Easthampton, a design that is in keeping with the traditional tone of the town would be more accepted and appropriate."

"It seems like it is more inner city 1960’s urban renewal, than small “town” mural."

"Lets see how many accidents it causes" - newowner1

"I think the mural will look nice. I live in that part of town & am delighted at how nice the Cottage St area has become. I love that’s it becoming such a creative and funky street with great little independent shops, and hope this trend continues. Public art will make it an even more intersting area."

"I lke it and I think it meshes well with the art atmosphere."

"Mural---Disgusting !!!!" - watchem

"The mural is very handsome and well suited for the location. Should be nice when it’s finished, in person." - James R (via Art Parlor)

"this mural will brings thousands to E'ton, somewhat like the healing water of Lourdes does" - farandaway

"THAT IS SO UGLY!" - bubbleheaded

"Make Easthampton look bad!!!" - zippenby

"it's done with flair." - coyneup

"come out of the bar, about 12:30 am, in the dark, and it`ll probably look great" - newowner1

"came out killer, great work" - derekdeal

"The only thing "Easthampton" about the mural is the way it abstractly says it, although it imparts a feeling of 'inner city Chicago 1978'" - HarleyRdKng

"I especially can't wait to see it in 30 years when its all flaked off and bleached by the elements and looks like shit." - crosshair

"I haven't seen anything like this since the Bronx in 1975" - some dude

"LOVE IT!" - orangecream

"vandilism" - newowner1

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Tempest in a Teapot - http://www.artwalkeasthampton.org/artsnewsletter/

"In search of the mythical unicorn, so something equally rare, public art that everyone can agree on... The Easthampton forum on MassLive has been crackling with comments about the selection of a mural design to go on the side of Whiskerz Pub on Cottage Street. The project will begin in the spring.

Just like the transitory fit of pique over the installation of nude sculptures outside the old Northampton Courthouse, this too shall pass. Public art is like all art, it's a subjective take. People decorate the inside of their homes differently, so it's not to be expected that all will agree on how to decorate their community. What's important is that it happens. More voices and expressions of art is better than fewer, or none. Whining is easy, doing is hard.

We tip our hat to Tom for putting in the time to develop a proposal and hope he keeps his chin up (while keeping his head down) during the process. Calmer seas are ahead."

Labels: 2008, Easthampton Mural, Reviews

The Republican, June 17th, 2008, (regarding the Easthampton Mural)
By NANCY H. GONTER

EASTHAMPTON - Thomas J. Pappalardo had a string of luck with design contests when a friend sent him an item about Easthampton City Arts looking for someone to create a mural on a downtown building.

Pappalardo, a Northampton resident who runs a design business, had some successes creating a commercial for an area station and in a Home Depot house decorating contest.

"Someone forwarded me the press release and said, 'Hey, you should give that a try,'" Pappalardo said.

Now, Pappalardo's mural fills a huge brick wall on the side of 71-77 Cottage St. which is Route 141. It faces a public parking lot and is easily viewed by people entering the city over Mount Tom.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the mural will be held Friday at 12:30 p.m. at the mural which was completed on June 1. Pappalardo, Mayor Michael A. Tautznik and the Easthampton City Arts Coordinating Committee will be present.

Ellen Koteen, grants coordinator for the city and co-facilitator of Easthampton City Arts, said Pappalardo's proposal was selected by a group of artists from four submissions.

"They felt his was very vibrant and creative and would appeal to the public," Koteen said. "I think it looks great. I even liked it better than his proposal."

Pappalardo, who lived in Easthampton for a year before buying a house in Northampton five or six years ago, describes the mural as a "very stylized treatment" of the words Easthampton, Massachusetts.

The challenge of the project was it had to be designed about the eight different windows that are part of the building, said Pappalardo who considers himself a designer and not an artist.

"It was actually really hard to do something. It was like if you tried to paint a picture on a canvas with eight holes in it. I decided right off the bat I didn't want to do a picture because it would be to hard to do around the windows," Pappalardo said.

Instead, he recreated the letters that surround the windows.

The actual outlining and painting took much longer than he anticipated. He spent a day and a half just marking it with the outlines. Then a group of friends spent a full day painting.

"I would have thought twice about entering if I had considered how much leg pain I was going to have from climbing on the scaffolding," he said.

Still, he is happy with how it turned out and hopes residents will enjoy it.

"I'm very pleased with it. I was shocked that we managed to pull it off so quickly that one day. Seeing it up there on the wall is great," he said.

Labels: 2008, Easthampton Mural, Interviews and Articles

The Daily Hampshire Gazette, January 19, 2008, (regarding the Easthampton Mural)
by Matt Pilon

EASTHAMPTON - An outdoor mural slated to be painted in the spring will give Cottage Street a new look.

Easthampton City Arts this month unanimously voted to award a $3,000 to Northampton-based graphic designer Tom Pappalardo to paint his design on the outer wall of 75 Cottage St., which houses Whiserkz Pub and faces a municipal parking lot.

The building is owned by Joseph Defazio, George and Marsha Bailey, and Jeremy Hewat, according to the Hampshire County Registry of Deeds.

City Arts Coordinator Ellen Koteen said the owners responded "enthusiastically" to their mural request last year.

Pappalardo, who works under the name of his one-man company, Standard Design, said Thursday that the project will be a first for him.

"I've never done anything like this before," he said. "It's totally cool."

Pappalardo also does animation work and draws the comic "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" that appears weekly in the Valley Advocate.

Creatively dodging eight windows located on the wall, Pappalardo's design spells out 'Easthampton' and 'Massachusetts' in a four-color scheme.

"It was a tricky challenge," he said. "I approached it as a pure typography challenge."

Board member Jean-Pierre Pasche of Eastmont Custom Framing described Pappalardo's use of the wall as "clever," which is part of the reason that his proposal was accepted.

"One of the positive points about that project was that it was using the wall to its fullest," he said. "I think it's going to be a striking image."

City Arts originally solicited submissions with a theme of the "evolving mosaic of Easthampton," but realized once submissions started coming in that the constraints of the brick canvass may pose a problem for a landscape or very detailed concept, Koteen said.

After a round of submissions that the jury committee did not favor, a new round brought in four new submissions.

Koteen said that a painting by the Amherst-based group Get Up Get Down depicting the history of the city from its native inhabitants to the future was the board's second choice.

Koteen, who was not on the jury committee, described the winning design as simple yet dramatic.

"I like it a lot," she said. "It's very creative."

The money that will pay the artist comes mostly from the state Cultural Council but also from a $500 local Cultural Council grant, which will pay for supplies.

The wall will likely be powerwashed and primed in March, and the painting work would start soon after, Koteen said.

Labels: 2008, Easthampton Mural, Interviews and Articles