Noted Granville artist creates mural for Newark thrift shop
A new, Matisse-inspired mural by Granville artist Paul Hamilton now enlivens the book area at St. Vincent de Paul's Thrift Store at 200 E. Main St. in Newark.
St. Vincent de Paul's Center Director Barb Scholten said the book section of the store – and encouraging literacy – are a highlight of the East Main location (St. Vincent's has another store at 135 Wilson St. in Newark), and so there was a desire to bring some special color and attention to the book section.
That, Scholten said, was the inspiration of St. Vincent de Paul's Becky Stilson.
Artist Paul Hamilton said he in turn drew inspiration for the resulting mural from artist Henri Matisse.
“It's a mural that was meant to brighten the book areas initially,” Hamilton explained. “The idea when I saw the space, I thought it would be nice to have a kind of Matisse-inspired artwork.”
Why Matisse?
“One of the reasons behind Matisse was his life lent itself to giving and helping,” Hamilton said. “He had physical conditions that (required) caregivers. He had caregivers that helped him do some of his most amazing work. I thought the idea of Matisse-inspired mural would sort of have a psychological impact. Plus, it's beautiful.”
The mural was put in place on Aug. 25.
Scholten said Stilson arranged the book department and comes in once a week to curate the space.
“Literacy,” Scholten said, “we are big on. We talked about literacy and how we loved to promote that through our store, even though the focus of our store is helping those who are currently experiencing homelessness. That's where all of our proceeds go.”
“It’s a mural that was meant to brighten the book areas initially. The idea when I saw the space, I thought it would be nice to have a kind of Matisse-inspired artwork.”
Artist Paul Hamilton
Apart from the book department at the rear of the store under the new mural, there are book carts out front offering free books.
“We have story time every Saturday,” Scholten added.
These story times are orchestrated by Granville High School students who volunteer Saturday hours for the offering, she said. Story times are 11 a.m. to noon on Saturday.
“Becky said, ‘We need some artwork up there to put some focus on the book area,' ” Scholten said, “and that's where she asked Paul to step in and do that.”
Speaking of the resulting mural, Scholten said, “It's much bigger and brighter and better than we ever dreamed it would be. We've gotten so many great comments. People come in and their eyes are drawn to it. A lot of people do spend a lot of time in our book department. It's serving us well.”
The Main Street store operates entirely through donated items and is open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday.