Artist Emily Graf of Hellertown stands in front of the Reader Art Gallery she painted on one wall of the Hellertown Area Library’s children’s area. Graf will be working on murals on the second floor of the library through August.
Recent visitors to the second-floor children’s area of the Hellertown Area Library have no doubt taken notice of some striking changes taking place on its walls.
A large mural is taking shape on the street-facing wall of the children’s area, and on another wall frames have been painted for a “Reader’s Art Gallery” that will feature submitted artwork by patrons (for submission guidelines, see the photo below).
The changes are the work of Emily Graf, a graphic designer and artist who’s also a Hellertown resident along with her husband and 15-month-old daughter, Stella.
Graf was one of a dozen applicants who put forward proposals for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant-funded mural project.
The project was supported in part by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, with the funding distributed by the local Lehigh Valley Arts Council, librarian Erin Clavier explained.
Graf said she wanted to help draw the natural world inside the recently renovated building with her painting, which on the front and back walls will feature depictions of rolling hills, sky, clouds, stars and birds; art evocative of the natural elements in the adjacent Dimmick Park.
Graf, who has a Bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Marywood University, is employed by the publication Lehigh Valley Business.
“This is a great opportunity for me to do fine art again…and also to just be part of the renovations,” she said. “It’s beautiful what they did.”
Another important element in Graf’s proposal was reader participation, which is why she came up with the idea for the Reader’s Art Gallery as well as several other interactive design elements.
One of them–an oversized painting of an old-fashioned library card–will become a time capsule of sorts, when children’s names and the titles of their favorite books are added to it with permanent marker (with the help of a parent or caregiver) on a first come, first served basis.
Graf said there will be room for about 30 kids’ names and book titles on the card.
Another interactive portion of the mural will be the “I (Heart) Books” social media backdrop, designed especially with social media sharing in mind.
“The backdrop format is ideal for sharing on Facebook and Instagram,” Graf’s proposal states. “These shared photos will act as an ongoing promotion of the Hellertown Area Library and as a keepsake for children and their parents.”
In between the young adult shelves in the children’s area, reader-nominated quotes will be handpainted within colorful shapes.
Patrons of the library are invited to submit their favorite quote from a children’s or young adult book by June 1, with winners to be chosen by library staff members.
Submissions should include the reader’s name, age and phone number, and can be made via a Facebook event page set up to collect them.
Graf–who took a week’s vacation to begin the mural project, and is now painting on Saturdays–said she has enjoyed meeting patrons and getting to know the friendly library staff better while working.
“It’s neat when kids are curious and they want to know what’s happening,” she said. “I do enjoy when kids have questions.”
“All the librarians are so nice–they really help their patrons find what they need,” she added. “You can just really tell that they love their job.”
The murals are expected to be completed by August.
Emily Graf works on one small section of a large mural on the second floor of the Hellertown Area Library.
Instructions for submitting a work of art for the new Reader’s Art Gallery are posted at the Hellertown Area Library children’s area.