Whenever Jessie Unterhalter and Katey Truhn appear with a paintbrush, you can be sure a landscape will be transformed into a kaleidoscope of geometric shapes and swirls, painted large on the sides of buildings.
This weekend the internationally acclaimed duo worked with middle school, college students and SWOYA kids to transform the back of the Tractor Store on Morgnec Rd. Into a 20 x 40ft collage of color aptly named “The Morgnec Gateway Mural.”
Hosted by Washington College’s SANDBOX Studio, Washington College’s College Preparation Intervention Program, or CPIP (a yearlong program developed in partnership with the Bayside HOYAS and Kent County Public Schools), and RiverArts, the project took from Friday evening to Sunday noon to complete.
The project was blessed by the Cordish Co. who allowed the back of the Tractor Store to become a blank canvas for the artists and their dozens of helpers. The project received another helping hand from Jay Yerkes, whose crew pressure-washed the surface and provided scaffolding for the weekend.
Unterhalter and Truhn met at Maryland Institute College of Arts in 2001 and since then have collaborated on a number of projects in Baltimore and were recently selected by New York Department of Transportation’s 191st Tunnel Beautification Project and with Philadelphia’s Murals Arts Program to create “Summer Kaleidoscope,” a 400-foot-long floor mural and pop-up park. The reference in the video to “working inside a Ninja Turtle” is a description of the difficulty in working in a damp environment.
Their transformative work has earned them residencies at The Albright-Knox Museum in Buffalo, the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, Maine, and the John Michael Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
Public art has long been a cornerstone of SANDBOX Studio’s mission to engage the public in a wider conversation about art and environment and as Washington College’s premier arts initiatives have brought internationally acclaimed artists from all over the world to Chestertown.
Katie Truhn and Jessie Unterhalter
The finished mural.
Melinda Bookwalter says
I live off of 291 and now we have a bright and welcoming mural that smiles me into town! Thank you so much to all the artists involved. A happy project!
Melinda Bookwalter says
PS: Great story, pics and video, thank you James!
Bob Foss says
We adore the mural, one of the things we’ve added to the list that makes Chestertown special.
Bob & Pam Foss