Ten Thousand Flowers Mural Project Installed At Library

Ten Thousand Flowers Mural Project Installed At Library
The new multi-panel mural is pictured at the Berlin library branch. Submitted Photo

BERLIN – A mural, created late last year as part of a national art project, is now on display at the Berlin library.

A multi-paneled mural painted in collaboration with the Ten Thousand Flowers Project was recently installed at the Berlin branch of the Worcester County Library.

In a Worcester County Library Board of Trustees meeting this month, Library Director Jennifer Ranck told members the mural was mounted onto the wall of the second-floor balcony with the assistance of Worcester County’s maintenance department.

“I really think this is a great spot to put it,” she said, noting that the mural overlooked the branch’s periodicals section. “The county maintenance department was amazing in installing this. It wasn’t easy to install by any stretch.”

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 in June 2019, going from town to town and creating flower murals with the help of those in the community. And that 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 was installed along a wall at the developmental center. And with community input, Berlin Arts & Entertainment selected the Berlin library as a potential site for the second art installation.

“The installation transformed a room at the developmental center into a happy space,” Berlin Arts & Entertainment member Robin Tomaselli said earlier this year. “I think it will do exactly the same thing at the library.”

In February, 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, with the possibility of moving the mural to an exterior location in the future.

And while the mural’s installation has since moved within the library, Ranck told board members this week the artwork could still be relocated outside as the property is developed.

“If we ever do something with the other four acres – maybe a walking path – it’s possible we can take it down and make it an entrance to that,” she said.

About The Author: Bethany Hooper

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Bethany Hooper has been with The Dispatch since 2016. She currently covers various general stories. Hooper graduated from Stephen Decatur High School in 2012 and the University of Maryland in 2016, where she completed double majors in journalism and economics.