See the “Upcycle” Art Exhibit in Danbury, Summer 2017
I am pleased to announce my newest art exhibit, entitled Upcycle, on view at Danbury’s Hancock Hall, June 26 through August 18, 2017. All are welcome to join us for a tea-time Artist Reception, Wednesday, August 2, from 3:00-5:00pm.
As an artist and mural painter, my mission is to transform plain walls into exciting walls, asking us to look at the familiar with a new perspective. I especially love the challenge of large-scale artwork. Taking inspiration from graphic design and the natural world, I use bold shapes, simplified lines and carefully curated color palettes to create works that grab your attention from across the room.
My most recent work has been particularly focused on the concept of upcycling: taking a disused or discarded object and incorporating it into my work. The pieces in the Upcycle exhibit include boards from abandoned shipping crates, discontinued drapery fabric, leftover paint and an old payphone.
When presented with the opportunity to display my work in the long hallways of Hancock Hall, I saw a perfect chance to bring a new look to a well-traveled corridor. Hancock Hall’s great unbroken expanses of wall meant that there was an opportunity to display larger works than I normally have the chance to produce, which was really exciting for me. And the fact that one of the walls had a payphone, which is something of a relic in the age of cell phones, fit really well with the Upcycle theme.
The mural, “Nature Calls,” was designed to make visual sense of Hancock Hall’s old payphone, turning it from outdated eyesore into fun feature.
The mural-sized artworks in the Upcycle exhibit are best experienced in person. Do stop by this summer to see them for yourself! Hancock Hall is open to the public every day from 8:30am to 9:00pm. The building has free and easy parking, and the friendly staff will point you to the exhibit hall beyond the reception area.
Upcycle is made possible by the Cultural Alliance of Western Connecticut’s Accessible Arts Program, whose mission is to make the work of regional visual artists accessible to new audiences by providing increased exposure through a network of area venues who share in the creative and economic values of working together. Mural Envy is honored to be a part of this great community project!
1. Thin Your Collection. Clutter makes a room feel smaller because it creates the sense that there’s not enough space for all the objects. Reduce clutter not by getting rid of everything but by selectively removing items. If you have three nice bowls and five picture frames displayed on top of a bookcase, remove two of the bowls and three of the frames. If you have three stacks of coffee table books, reduce it to just one stack. Already your space will start to feel more open and breathable.
We are thrilled to announce that a new mural installation Mural Envy artist and muralist 
Miraldi also created a “portable mural” for the project, which is exhibited on a wall adjacent to the mural installation at Hodge Insurance Agency. Entitled, Lift, this 4-foot-square work consists of four birch panels which together make up one larger image. To accentuate the organic beauty of the wood grain, she chose to work with natural materials such as water-based wood stain and old-fashioned milk paint. “I want my work to be as eco-conscious as possible,” says Miraldi. “Paint has a reputation for being somewhat toxic, and with Lift, I wanted to show that completely non-toxic materials can be used to create wonderful effects.”
Color and Pattern
But my favorite part of hosting a booth was observing the young artists who stopped by to “Add to Our Wall.” The Mural Envy booth put up a blank wall each day and invited kids of all ages to draw something on it, helping to create a unique, collaborative mural that was always a complete surprise.
