BERLIN – One of several murals created late last year through a national art project could soon be installed at the Berlin library.
Late last year, community members joined Tim Gibson, artist and founder of the Ten Thousand Flowers Project, to create public art installations for the town of Berlin and the Worcester County Developmental Center.
The Ten Thousand Flowers Project, formed in June of 2018, is an initiative to bring communities together by creating one large mural consisting of 10,000 flowers spread over hundreds of small towns across the country.
Gibson began his east coast tour last June, going from town to town and creating flower murals with the help of those in the community. And in November, he teamed up with Berlin Arts & Entertainment, local artist Jon Donato and the Worcester County Developmental Center to begin painting two large murals.
One of those murals is now installed along a wall at the developmental center. The second mural, which was painted on a series of portable panels, could soon be installed at the Berlin branch of the Worcester County Library.
This week, the Worcester County Library Board of Trustees agreed to move forward with having the mural installed along a wall in the branch’s upstairs meeting room.
Director Jennifer Ranck said Donato and Robin Tomaselli, a member of Berlin Arts & Entertainment’s executive committee, approached the library system with a proposal to install the mural at the library.
“They were looking for a public space in Berlin to bring this project together …,” she said. “They want people to see it, so his idea was to put the panels in the meeting room.”
While the panels were too big to be displayed in a visible area outside of the library, Ranck said the mural could be moved to an exterior location in the future.
“The idea is you could put it in here and maybe eventually put it outside …,” she said. “I think they were excited about this possibility of putting it in Berlin and having Berlin listed as one of these places that has this project.”
In an interview this week, Tomaselli said Berlin Arts & Entertainment selected the library as a potential site for the new mural after receiving input from the community.
“Berlin Arts & Entertainment asked the public which area of town they would most like to see these murals installed and overwhelmingly the response was the Berlin library,” she said. “We think it will be perfect there.”
Tomaselli said the panels will have a visual impact at the library.
“The installation transformed a room at the developmental center into a happy space,” she said. “I think it will do exactly the same thing at the library.”
