WESTFIELD – After years of ideas and discussions with the city, Artwords received approval from the Westfield City Council at its May 21 meeting to create its first public mural in the underpass between Taylor Avenue and Hedges Avenue.

In order to raise funds for the project, Shannon Chiba, one of the proprietors behind the project, said Artworks started a GoFundMe with a goal of $5,000 for the project. “The GoFundMe is essential because it is 100 percent volunteer run and there really weren’t any grants available for the project, and we don’t have a budget for it. The only way this is going to happen is with community support.”

She added the funding will go towards priming the mural, cleaning the area, adding the paint, sealing the mural, security measures, safety measures, and supplies.

While she is not expecting any overages from donations, Chiba said any such overages would go directly into Artworks’ next mural project. She also added that the early success of this mural has sparked some ideas for the future. She said, “It’s mushrooming into other ideas, for instance the concept of a free wall where people can continually paint and change and rearrange a space on their own time. Children and graffiti artists at their leisure and pleasure can head on over to a designated space and paint.”

Along with the monetary donations, Artworks is also looking for supply donations for the project, especially unused paint. “I do need paint really, really fast. I only have a few gallons of primer, but I need 40 gallons for each layer and I only have about two or three for each layer. I need exterior latex in any color gloss, exterior primer. My preference would be white but if people want to bring anything down, I need it,” she said.

Chiba added that someone from Artworks will be at the mural site from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays throughout the duration of the project to accept supply donations.

She also said that the project would not have been possible without the intervention of City Councilors Ralph Figy and Bridget Matthews-Kane. She said, “Councilor Ralph Figy suggested celebrating this moment with a COVID mural and I put that suggestion out on social media. The comments and ideas just blew up, people were really excited and engaged about celebrating the positive aspects of what’s going on now. There’s a lot of things that have happened as a result of COVID that are exciting and positive.”

She added, “Councilor Bridget Matthews-Kane wanted the input of the people who would see the mural on a daily basis, so Artworks made a flyer and she distributed it to the residents of those neighborhoods before we held an informational Zoom meeting.”

With the COVID pandemic still ongoing, Chiba said volunteers will be required to wear masks and follow social distancing guidelines while painting the mural and Artworks will be sanitizing all materials between each use.

Currently Artworks is accepting volunteers to help paint the mural by sending a message to Artworks of Westfield on Facebook. Anyone is welcome to sign up but paint alone because of the pandemic, but children are required to have a parent with them. At the time of writing, more than 30 people had already signed up to paint.

At the end of the project artists will add the finishing touches to the mural and may end up painting over the volunteers’ work but Chiba said that will not diminish contributions to the mural. She said, “I think it’s important for painters to know that what they’re painting will be a part of the design but not necessarily the final say. I don’t want anybody to get upset that something might get touched up.”

Once the mural is done, Chiba said that she wants to see a huge celebration in honor of its completion. She said, “We would really like to see at the end of this a community celebration and an opening. If social distancing and state guidelines allow, we envision a Block Party and community unveiling of the mural and hopefully community leaders will join us.

Chiba added that she hopes this first mural serves as a precursor for an artistic renaissance in Westfield. She said, “By making it community-driven, that’s where true creativity happens because you have to have trust and faith in the artists and the art community, and that’s what city council has done. They’ve given the community and artists a free license to create and become a catalyst for art in the city.”