A Splash of Color on JFK Drive

Until last week, the wall underneath the Memorial footbridge on JFK Drive was an ugly cement surface scarred by grafitti.   But in three short days, some students and members of the Bloomfield community were able to transform an urban eyesore into a colorful work of art. 

“I love it,” beamed Mayor Raymond McCarthy, who visited the site on Wednesday afternoon.  “The fact that it talks about our diversity and is done by our kids, our students, shows we’re great community of people.”

Several weeks ago, the township commissioned a group of students from Bloomfield College’s Art and Creative Technology Department to paint the mural on the wall.  The project, slated to begin December 10, was to continue all weekend, culminating on Wednesday.  

Arriving to see the finished result were township officials McCarthy, Township Administrator Yoshi Manale and the Department of Public Works Director, Anthony Nesto.  All expressed enthusiasm for the finished result.

“This is 10 times better than I thought it was going to be.  It's really pretty,” raved Nesto.  “We spent a lot of time removing graffiti from here [to prepare the wall for the mural].  We did 12 hours of work.”  

The cost of the mural, “a few hundred dollars,” said Manale, was funded by the township.  The image depicts a tree with rainbow-colored leaves painted as flags from different countries.  The words “Power of Diversity” are emblazoned underneath the tree.

BC Painting instructor Clark Stoeckley, who led the painting team, called the final design “a consensus process.”

“The overall concept is about diversity and how here in the United States, we're a melting pot of nationalities, religions and ethnicities,” he said. 

“Especially in New Jersey,” added one of the artists.

“Especially in Bloomfield,” said someone else.

“I look at Bloomfield College, and it’s one of the most diverse colleges in the country.  I think the top five, depending on what year you look at,” said  McCarthy.

Manale said he looks forward to more projects like this in the future. “[Artists] should paint the two walls right on Broad Street where the train trestles are,” he said.  “There's an opportunity for seniors to do their own little project there, to leave a legacy.  I talked to the [BHS] student council about this, and the superintendent is also aware.”

Stoeckley said he initially thought he and the students were going to paint the three “learning modules” currently behind Franklin School.

“We thought we were going to paint the Franklin trailers but they told us no.  The school board said it might be painting the trailers in spring.”

Stoeckley and the students all credit McCarthy’s secretary Rosemary Brown with bringing the creative team together.

“I saw an article in Bloomfield Patch asking artists to submit work for consideration,” said one of the artists, a town resident who does not attend Bloomfield College. “Rosemary from the mayor’s office contacted me.  I've never done a mural before.  She put me in contact with Clark.”

“This is awesome,” grinned Bloomfield College senior Christi Vazquez, a sociology/criminal justice major.  “To just be able to drive by and say, ‘I did this’! It definitely turned out better than I thought it would.”

Frankki Moriarity, a sophomore with the triple major in psychology, art and education, admitted, “I was a little nervous.  I was like, oh, my God, this is a public thing.  Everyone will see it’.” 

As they spoke, passing cars honked their horns in approval. 

“I didn't want to tell the students what to paint.  I wanted them to paint what they want to paint," observed Stoeckley.  "This is a merging of many different ideas.  It was a design by committee.”

He added, “I think it's important to connect the community with Bloomfield College.  I think sometimes they don't really integrate in a way, so to create a better relationship between the community and the school is vital.”