Painting the town: NEPA buildings come alive from muralist's vision and talent
Jul. 17—Eric Bussart looks at the walls of Northeast Pennsylvania and sees a blank canvas.
The Clifford Twp. artist leaves his mark in communities across the region and beyond with a growing portfolio of close to 100 murals created in collaboration with others or independently, from natural scenes to portraits of famous faces.
"I just want to leave any space that I'm in a little brighter, a little more colorful. Mural art has a real potential to have a transformative effect," he said. "When people see murals around them, see the big colorful artwork for the public on their commutes or their walk to work, it sort of transforms the way that they view their own neighborhood and community. It can be uplifting in that way."
Growing up outside of Philadelphia in Ambler, Bussart, 28, loved drawing from a young age. Having attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), it kept him zoned in, and to this day he loves drawing with a simple ballpoint pen.
"I've always gotten a very deep enjoyment out of just making things appear out of nothing on a piece of paper," he said.
Luckily, his mother and grandmother encouraged his artistic talent, and teachers guided him to all the proper channels for getting into art school and becoming a professional artist.
Bussart studied illustration at Marywood University and decided to stay in the area after graduating in 2018. He also works in digital, paint and other mediums.
In college, he worked for a house painter over the summers to cover his rent.
"That's kind of how I got into the mural game," Bussart said. "I mixed the skills together, the drawing I was learning at school with the technical house painting."
Over the years, he's collaborated on murals with fellow artists such as Ryan Hnat, Emmanuel Wisdom and Zach Yahn. He's also worked with organizations like Northeast Art Project, the Mosaic Project and Scranton Tomorrow.
His mural career started along the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail under the Mulberry Street bridge in Scranton. The mural says "The Electric City" and depicts a light bulb composed of surreal jellyfish surrounding a large hand.
Bussart called the mural of Martin Luther King Jr. at 607 Mulberry St., Scranton, titled "The Dream" his all-time favorite. The portrait of the civil rights leader is surrounded by morning glories and includes one of his popular quotes.
He's also proud of the mural depicting iconic entertainers Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and John Wayne in front of a multicolored background in the Gateway Shopping Center, Edwardsville.
Currently, he's finishing up a mural at DePietro's Pharmacy, 617 Third St., Dunmore, of the Lady Bucks basketball team which won the state championship this year. The design includes a portrait of each player based on her photo.
It helps that Bussart has focused on portraits for the last two years, even completing a 100-portrait challenge that tasked artists with drawing 100 portraits in 10 days. (It took him 12 days, but he still learned a lot and improved his skills.)
It's meaningful to Bussart to paint something that's such a source of pride for the community, and he loves when a mural tells a story. He previously painted a mural of Dunmore football players on the other side of the pharmacy that says "Home of the Bucks."
"Any time I paint sports, I get a lot more honks, a lot more stoppers," he said. "It gets people very excited."
The Mosaic Project organized both murals at the pharmacy, as well as several others that Bussart painted.
Liz Naro, founder and vice president of the Mosaic Project, expects the Lady Bucks mural to remind the Dunmore community of that special moment for years to come. She invited the public to a reveal party for the mural on Sunday, Aug. 6, from 4 to 6 p.m. outside of DePietro's.
"Eric is so great to work with," Naro said. "I don't think that he realizes how valuable he is to the community."
As a fellow artist, Naro said it's inspiring to see Bussart's process.
Trending Stories
*
Disbarred attorney, wife held for trial in Scranton estate theft case
*
Police: Scranton woman slashed ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend with box cutter
*
Evidence of teen victim's earlier fight should go before jurors in Scranton murder case, defense argues
*
Lackawanna County Court Notes 7/18/23
*
Officials cut ribbon at Geisinger Behavioral Health Center Northeast, patients expected Aug. 1
"He just gets into the zone, and it is fascinating to watch," she said. "He's in another world when he gets into that place."
Bussart also sells prints, stickers and repurposed spray paint cans on his website. When he's really passionate about a mural, he saves some of the cans and uses them as a canvas to paint a corresponding design.
When Bussart takes on a new mural, he starts by presenting a thumbnail, or a rough sketch of how it will look. Once that's approved, he completes a digital rendering.
"I pretty much like to have it almost exactly how it's going to look in the final painting in my rendering," he said.
He projects that onto the wall late at night for an outline. Hauling ladders and hooking up extension cords around a building at 2 a.m. in his painting clothes looks a bit sketchy, so he's been stopped by police. However, they're understanding once he explains what he's up to.
"I'm dressed like a psycho. I have this big, dirty paint suit on, sometimes a mask if I'm spray painting," he laughed. "It looks like crime every time, but they're usually understanding. I haven't had a problem yet."
What looks like random squiggles and dashes to passersby makes total sense to Bussart, who leaves coded messages for himself in the outline. From there, it's just a matter of painting.
Methods for a traditional canvas painting aren't practical for a mural, Bussart said, so he completely paints one piece at a time. For instance with the Lady Bucks mural, he broke it down into pieces and painted all the players' legs and arms, then their jerseys, and so on.
The timeline depends on the complexity and size of the mural, and he works with assistants a lot of the time to move it along faster. Between the weather and other challenges, Bussart said creating a mural involves constant troubleshooting.
"It's kind of exhausting, but it's also very thrilling once you're in the zone, and you're just dodging and weaving around the issues," he said.
Painting in a studio, Bussart said no one needs to see the "ugly phase" of a painting or know if the artist made a mistake. With a mural, that's on display in front of everyone. Sometimes, imposter syndrome kicks in when he thinks about the public judging the outcome.
There's also the physical danger, like falling off a ladder. Though his fear of heights has been conditioned out of him, Bussart said his knees still feel weird over 25 feet.
"At the beginning of a project, those fears are always very high for me, and then the more I get into it, they dissipate," he said. "And then at the end, I'm just chilling and enjoying it, actually."
Bussart puts in lots of long days, and not wanting to get bogged down and lose momentum, he typically focuses on one mural at a time while lining up his next projects.
Meanwhile, he's always challenging himself to improve and learn new techniques through independent studies and classes.
Painting out on the street allows him to interact with the people living and working near his murals and get live feedback. Similarly, he likes doing occasional live drawing or painting sessions at artistic events.
He gets a kick out of seeing people visit and take photos with his artwork and said that's why he does it.
"They're always very excited to see more color, more art and more culture appearing in their neighborhoods," he said.
For Bussart, murals provide a lesson in impermanence. Though he does everything in his power to make them last as long as possible, he knows they aren't forever. Murals undergo wear and tear over the years like anything else, and buildings can be renovated or knocked down.
He compared it to the Buddhist tradition of making beautiful sand mandalas just to wipe them away.
"Nothing is permanent, so to me, the fact that it's not there forever kind of makes it more special," Bussart said.
For more of Bussart's work, visit ericbussart.com, follow him on Instagram (@ericbussart) and Eric Bussart on Facebook or look for his signature on walls across Northeast Pennsylvania.
Contact the writer:
bwilliams@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5107;
@BWilliamsTT on Twitter
Start a dialogue, stay on topic and be civil.
If you don't follow the rules, your comment may be deleted.
User Legend: iconModeratoriconTrusted User
