Shelterbelt Farm

In a world that often feels overwhelmingly full of suffering, I’ve been noticing where I find little sparks of joy and pleasure. Murals are one source of that light. Who can resist the replacement of a drab wall with an image that’s full of color and meaning? Thanks largely to the organizational support and advocacy of Ithaca Murals, we are blessed with an abundance of public art bringing vibrant images, hopeful messages, and beauty to walls all over town.

I have dreamed for many years of painting a mural here on the farm, but it was such a daunting project that I couldn’t get started. I had an idea of what I wanted to do: illustrate the invisible life beneath our feet and also the importance of rooting ourselves in a place and building deep connection there. I even sketched it out, and attended several community paint sessions at other murals to learn about the best paints to use and how the whole process works. Still I felt unprepared to tackle this project on my own.

Enter Audra Linsner of Three of Four Design Company. I had seen Audra’s work in Syracuse, where she painted a massive mural covering a wall outside the Salt City Market. When I looked at her gallery on her website, I was hooked. Even better, when I spoke with her, she was enthusiastic about working with me collaboratively to bring my design concept to life!

Thanks to a small Agriculinary Tourism grant from Visit Ithaca, a plan began to take shape. Audra took my sketch and color palette and improved upon it, adding layers and details and new shades of color that blended well with the base palette I had chosen. I learned from her about color mixing and the order of operations. We first painted several coats of the background colors, and then projected the details onto the background and traced them with paint markers. Then we began painting all the roots, soil creatures, human feet, vines, and other details. We were slowed by the frequent storms that rolled through in late August, and Audra even spent an entire day setting up tarps to make it possible to paint despite the rain, only to have them blown down by a wicked storm that rolled through the next night.

Soon we’ll add window clings to the two doors in the mural. The one on the left is the entrance to The Phoenix Gathering Space, and the one on the right is the door to the farm store. I hope you will come visit soon to see the mural in person, check out the farm store, attend an event at The Phoenix, or even rent The Phoenix for your own event!