Six artists, three weeks, three shipping containers, one Muralthon. Six new murals mark a step forward for Muralgarten, a unique destination that will combine public art and native plantings adjacent to The Shirt Factory in Glens Falls. The vision of Eric Unkauf (owner of The Shirt Factory) with the support of a board including Tom Myott, Hannah Williams, Kendra Farstad, and Matthew Martindale, Muralgarten seeks to give artists the creative freedom to paint what they want, in the style that they want.
We’re excited to introduce you to another one of the talented artists behind Muralthon’s six murals, Jenny Hutchinson, whose mural is inspired by the reflections of the landscape along the water's edge.
Tell us about yourself!
I currently work and live in Glens Falls as an artist and grants administrator. I grew up in Queensbury, my husband in Glens Falls, and while we didn't plan to live here initially, we're so glad that we do! We love living in Glens Falls and being part of this community. Since 2020, when I last spoke to Glens Falls Living, Joann (the barn on our property) is fully finished and is a beautiful and thriving art studio and workspace.
On Becoming an Artist
Although I did not call myself an artist until I was a young adult, I've been an artist my whole life. I began creating the moment I could wrap my hands around a crayon and my first friends were the colors in my crayon box. I've referred to myself as a professional artist for about 15 years now. My first art exhibitions outside of my education happened right here in Glens Falls and I had my first art studio at The Shirt Factory.
On Inspiration
My work for Muralgarten has a couple different sources. I spend a bit of time kayaking the region's many rivers and lakes and find myself transfixed by the various reflections of trees, and landscape along the bank and water's edge. In particular, I take photographs of the still moments and bring these images back to my art studio to create into new artworks.
This piece is of trees and their reflection along the Hudson River by Spier Falls. I originally created this image for a show I had in 2016 at Albany Center Gallery. It was a mixed media paper sculpture work and was just finished only a short time before the exhibition. The piece sold during this show, which was a bittersweet pill to swallow — it had become one of my favorite works! I decided that Muralgarten would be the perfect opportunity to create a new interpretation of it so that it could live in the world for others (and myself) to see and enjoy.
On The Process
All of my artworks begin as a fully finished ink line drawing. I first projected that image and traced the outline in paint onto the shipping container. I also took my documented image from the original artwork mentioned above and scanned it into photoshop to recolor some areas of the art to make it slightly different and more appropriate for the mural. My first challenge was thinking through how I was going to take artwork that was 3-dimensional (the original had shapes layered at different depths) and make it 2 dimensional again.
While I've worked large scale before and painted murals inside homes, this was my first experience painting a mural outside and I absolutely love it! While the weather and temperature can be challenging, as someone who enjoys the outdoors, this melded together two of my passions — creating art and being outside — so it's a bit of a natural fit.
While the surface texture of the container was certainly challenging to paint straight lines across, I found the tougher situation was the heat that builds on the surface throughout the day from the sun. When the metal is at its hottest, the paint dries instantly so you have to be very strategic in how you are applying paint and reserving things like gradient or blending colors for cooler times of day when the paint can remain wet longer.
Some Glens Falls Favorites
Having Rock Hill Bakehouse next door while we worked was fantastic for breaks and grabbing delicious meals and cold drinks. After a long day of painting, stopping by Cooper's Cave for some ice cream was a nice treat too.
It was also great to be visited by people as they came to check out whats going on. There were a lot of residents stopping by to talk with us and admire the works — it has been amazing to see the community interested and behind us.
By the Way…
The Muralgarten Team has done a amazing job caring for the artists — we have been compensated for our time, supplies, and provided stipends for meals as well. I am so very thankful to Eric Unkauf for providing the space for this opportunity, Hannah Williams for sharing her love and expertise in murals with us all, and the sponsors and board members of Muralgarten that have made this momentous project possible. It's been wonderful to get to know my fellow artists, create with them, learn from them, and I'm very excited to see the end product of Muralgarten from Muckraker Productions. They were out there with us throughout the entire process, documenting us artists at work, rain or shine, heat or cold. Arguably, they have had the toughest job of us all, and I'm looking forward to seeing the story that they produce.
