At Cobblestone, the message is in the mural

Kim Bellavia brings the Cobblestone Performing Arts Center Mural to Life!


Original Article Published on MPNNOW.com

Author: Melody Burri

Mural by artist: Kim Bellavia

A technicolor mural on the face of the new Cobblestone Performing Arts Center features dancers, painters, musicians and children having fun.

FARMINGTON — What’s up with Cobblestone Arts Center’s snazzy new addition on Route 332? If passers-by are still wondering, it will be obvious soon.

A technicolor mural on the face of the new Cobblestone Performing Arts Center (CPAC) features dancers, painters, musicians and children having fun. It’s pretty much what will be going on inside the structure, come January.

In late September, Cobblestone teachers and staff posed in front of the masonry-covered wall. Each was completely sprayed with water, spray-tan-style, leaving only their silhouettes behind them.

Racing the clock, Honeoye-based visual artist Kim Bellavia quickly traced the images in chalk as the water dried.

The life-sized silhouettes were filled in with black exterior latex paint, and Bellavia splashed bright colors across the background of the mural. Next she’ll continue blending the colors until they look like a box of crayons melted together, with Cobblestone Performing Arts Center’s name at the top.

Why?

“So people can know and identify that this is a performing arts center,” said Executive Director Lorene Benson, who posed for the mural like Cinderella at the ball. “It will have dance, visual arts, music, children with balloons — a happy scene for all to enjoy.”

The mural will then be framed and sealed, to help it withstand the elements, she said.

Cobblestone Arts Center is at 1622 Route 332 in Farmington. For more information, visit http://www.cobblestoneartscenter.com or https://www.facebook.com/CobblestoneArtsCenter, or call 585-398-0220.

The finished mural at the Cobblestone Performing Arts Center

Picture of the finished mural at the Cobblestone Performing Art Center, mural by Kim Bellavia