Business & Tech

Orphaned Art Gets New Home as a Mural at Who's on First

Unclaimed pottery from Glazed Over Studios provides material for a mural on the side of the First Street cafe.

 

Jen Bailey had the "canvas" and Jennifer Boyce had the "paint," and the two Ocean City business owners teamed up recently to unveil a sweeping new piece of public art.

The canvas: the side of Bailey's  cafe on the corner of First Street and Asbury Avenue.

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The paint: Unclaimed pieces of pottery from Boyce's on the 800 block of Asbury Avenue.

The result of the collaboration is a new mural decorating a bare wall on the exterior of the First Street cafe. The new art is an example of two owners teaming up to beautify the city and to enlist the community in the process.

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Boyce's studio invites customers to paint their own pottery or create mosaics. But because the pottery must be fired in a kiln and picked up a few days later, some of it goes unclaimed. Boyce says she's never had the heart to throw any of it away. So she suggested using some of the oldest pieces (several years old) of as part of a mural.

Who's on First customers donated old lamps, tiles and other materials to the effort, while Sue Van Duyne donated some of her students' pottery from the . The two owners invited friends of both establishments to work together to create a recycled piece of art.

They recruited artist and mosaicist Michele Pasciullo to help design the new mural — and a rainbow theme took shape in the Glazed Over Studios. Bailey had concrete slabs installed to prepare the side of Who's on First for the artwork.

The creation of the actual artwork included retired teachers Sue Forrest and Melodie Perri, Who's on First employee Mila Antonova and her daughter, Alex, Sharon Pagano, Becca Barnett and Lois Hughes, among others.

Dave Henton anchored boards to the wall, set up scaffolding and helped with gluing and grouting and assisted every step of the process.

When warmer weather returns in the spring, the muralists will be looking for material and volunteers for more murals at Who's on First and for a possible collaboration with Community Art Projects, the nonprofit group responsible for creating public art throughout the island.

Look for announcements about new projects on the Facebook page for Glazed Over.


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