'Mural Slam' artists to unveil work on Oct. 14. Here's what to know before you go.

Seth Chitwood, The Standard-Times
·4 min read

NEW BEDFORD — The New Bedford Arts and Cultural Emporium (NBACE) hosted Kilburn Mill’s first indoor mural slam this weekend, with three local muralists working to complete their submission by Sunday night.

"I was here from midnight to eight on Friday, and I will be here until it's done tonight," said Autumn Liv Cyr. "This is such a great opportunity, I've been wanting to do more murals and get into larger scale things like this."

Cyr's "Let the Children Paint" mural design represents a child not having the ability or resources to be an artist. As they begin to cry, their tears fall onto a piece of paper and become art in itself.

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"It is imperative that the youth (and anyone) should be allowed to create should they want to," said Cyr. "One of the biggest catalysts for this idea is the Star Store, and how a ton of kids had that taken away, but they're still gonna make art and they're gonna figure it out."

Inviting all SouthCoast artists to compete

Through grants from The Massachusetts Cultural Council and ARTnet, artists from New Bedford, Fall River, Dartmouth, Mattapoisett, Marion, Rochester, Westport, Freetown, Wareham, Acushnet and Fairhaven, ages 18 and up, were encouraged to submit three original 5-inch by 7-inch thumbnail sketches to be selected.

Autumn Liv Cyr works on her mural submission on the second floor of the Kilburn Mill.
Autumn Liv Cyr works on her mural submission on the second floor of the Kilburn Mill.

“I saw all these blank walls in the Kilburn Mill, and when you're an artist and you see blank white walls, you just can't help yourself,” said Karen Charbonneau Zukas, founder and executive director of the NBACE.

“I approached the mill with the idea and they loved it.”

Cyr, Joshua Letourneau and Kateland Feuti were all selected and awarded $1,500 to bring their murals to life. Cyr's mural is located on the second floor next to the Arts and Cultural Emporium, with Feuti's mural on the second floor just beyond the elevators and Letourneau's in the first floor lobby.

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Letourneau, owner and curator of Sublime Designs, is an artist from Dartmouth with a career that has spanned over 20 years. The concept for his piece was supposed to be used for a live painting event featuring art around clambakes and lobster, but he had to drop out when his mother had a stroke.

Creating murals with important messages

"Once things had settled down; everything was good with my mom, I got back into the painting, and it moved extremely quickly. This piece is inspired by what happened. The sun was sort of like an ode to her being a light in my life," he said.

"I feel like sometimes we gotta take an opportunity to see the light when some things may be dark at times in our life."

Joshua Letourneau works on his mural submission at the Kilburn Mill.
Joshua Letourneau works on his mural submission at the Kilburn Mill.

Letourneau said he's enjoyed painting the mill because everyone has been intrigued and supportive of his work. "People have been extremely kind and very responsive. People are asking questions, or just saying, 'Hey, it looks great. You're doing a great job!" he added.

Feuti, who is also an antique dealer, embraced a range of mediums—from traditional painting and drawing to contemporary digital art. Her mural features an octopus holding a lantern in one tentacle and a flower in the other.

"It's a really cool experience. I like the vibe here. There's a lot of really cool art around," she said.

People can see the completed murals on Oct. 14

Once completed, Zukas will be holding an event in her second-floor studio on Oct. 14 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. for people to see all the murals and vote for their favorite. She said the murals will be a permanent addition to the building and hopes to do it again next year.

Kateland Feuti works on a tentacle for an octopus that will serve as part of her mural on the second floor of the Kilburn Mill.
Kateland Feuti works on a tentacle for an octopus that will serve as part of her mural on the second floor of the Kilburn Mill.

"I really hope people understand that this competition was possible for anyone because these three muralists were not at the forefront of the art world around here," she said.

"A lot of times people, especially the most talented artists, will hide out because they're afraid to compete assuming they're no good — I want the takeaway for people to be to not hide in the shadows and come out into the local art world."

Standard-Times staff writer Seth Chitwood can be reached at schitwood@s-t.com. Follow him on Twitter: @ChitwoodReports. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: New Bedford area artists work to finish their murals at Kilburn Mill