North Country This Week

POTSDAM — A local artist has completed a large mural at the town-run Postwood Park in Hannawa Falls in November, but would like to add more to the scene if she can find the funding.

Sara Lynch completed the multi-themed Welcome to Postwood painting on the side of one of the park buildings in the waning days of November.

“I would like to add more to the mural at Postwood and finish the wall I started on but unfortunately due to some technicalities I can't apply for the same grant funding that I used to create what is currently there. I am looking for other funding sources though as I'd really like to add more to what is there,” Lynch said.

The mural project was funded with an Individual Artist Grant Lynch applied for from SLC Arts through a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts.

“I’ve been doing grant funded public art projects through the St Lawrence County Arts Council's Regrant program since 2018 and smaller murals in private homes since about 2010 or so. Some have faded with time or got painted over so I'm not entirely sure how many there are out there these days,” Lynch said.

Lynch, who works in a wide range of mediums and art types besides murals, has also painted some smaller details around the Potsdam Public Museum for their Chinese exhibit. She is also working with the museum director on a piece that will be part of the museum’s upcoming exhibit on the Raquette River.

The design for the Postwood mural had a good deal of input from the public Lynch said.

“I’d say I had around a dozen or so design suggestions ranging from well executed sketches to general subject suggestions. I combined about five of them to create what you can see now and I got feedback online while I was working on some details like where to place the ‘TO,’” said Lynch.

Lynch said that to get started she gathered all of the suggestions people sent her and started doing sketches from them.

“I work pretty small in a sketchbook (about 5-by-8 inches) so I can bring it around with me to work on and share my drafts with other people while I'm out and about,” she said.

Once she figured out the placement of all the parts she headed to the site and sketched the design with a solid graphite drawing pencil.

“As I work I use a Mr Clean magic eraser to wipe off any lines I don't like the placement of. I do a lot of backing up to get perspective and taking pictures so I can look at the overall design when I'm not there. Some folks use a grid system for mural work, which I have done, but the mural at Postwood wasn't tall enough to require that process,” she said.

The painter was working on the mural through the autumn and polished it off before the weather turned cold at the end of November.

“I don't mind painting as long as it's not much colder than 50 degrees. Below that paint might not dry right and my feet get kind of cold no matter how many pairs of socks I wear,” she said.

The mural is done for the year Lynch said, but she would like to add some animals on the sunset beach depicted in the painting, doing beach activities. Beavers building sand castles, heron life guards, and raccoons picking up trash are some of the ideas she is considering.

“I’d also like to finish the whole wall with some larger native trees and plants, but as I said, I don't have any funds to do this. If anyone has suggestions for who to approach for funding to finish the mural at Postwood, I'd love to hear them and can be reached at saraelynch@gmail.com,” Lynch said.  

To learn more about the mural at Postwood and other projects Lynch is working on visit her website and blog at https://www.saraelynch.com/blogroll/2021/11/26/postwood-park-mural