Mural Schedule
To honor the lives lost to the pandemic, local artist Rachel Baxter has created a mural to serve as a visual tribute. The mural of flowers, painted on wooden panels, is moveable and is making its way around the Capital Region.
The project was sponsored by the United Way of the Greater Capital Region and the Albany Center Gallery.
“We were just in conversation and like came up with this design,” said Baxter. “Each flower has its own meaning so there's flowers that symbolize remembrance and strength and endurance, and I really just wanted to create something beautiful that recognized the loss and the
Thurs – Fri.: Albany Institute of History and Art, 125 Washington Ave., Albany
Saturday: The Crossings of Colonie, 580 Albany Shaker Road, Loudonville
AAgrief and the struggles of this past year but also offered you know a moment of peace and beauty for people to kind of reflect upon”
According to Baxter, the echinacea symbolizes strength, there's lilac for remembrance, zinnia for endurance, eucalyptus for healing, and tulips as a nod to Albany's official flower.
Visitors are invited to write remembrances to loved ones lost, tributes to frontline workers, or words of encouragement in navigating the days ahead. These are written on stickers that are then pasted onto the mural, making the experiences part of the artwork.
The mural already has been displayed in locations within Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady and Schoharie counties. It is moved around from location to location by the United Way staff.
The mural was unveiled virtually on the United Way Facebook page on March 23, the one-year anniversary of the passing of Walter Robb, the first Capital Region resident lost to COVID -19. Robb was a longtime GE executive and local philanthropist.
Attendees at the event were invited to join the Robb family and to light a candle in remembrance of him and the more than 1,000 Capital Region lives lost to COVID -19. Troy-based artist and poet D.colin performed her poem “What we have now,” about remembering, healing and moving forward. Colin will be performing the poem in person on Thursday and Friday when the mural is at the Albany Institute of History and Art.
“This mural represents connecting again, reconnecting. It represents healing,” said Colin. “And Rachel did a great job of being very intentional about what flowers she chose for the mural. And I wanted to be really intentional about the language in the poem. I knew before I wrote the poem that I wanted it to be about healing and moving forward.”
Colin got the opportunity to see Baxter's art in progress, which inspired her writing.
The mural will be placed outside each location when possible and will be moved inside, depending upon the weather. It is open to viewing daily from 1-6 p.m. Masks and social distancing will be required when visiting the mural.