Murals planned for city

Staff Report - The Daily Star

ONEONTA — Images of two girls in a doorway and of a horse-drawn fire engine will add new dimensions to two private buildings in Oneonta under the city's mural project, an official said Tuesday.

A mural of the fire engine is proposed for William Schebaum's law office at 93 Main St., said James R. Koury, Oneonta city clerk and chairman of the city's Civic Beautification Committee. The illusion of a stone building, with two girls standing in a doorway, is to be painted on the carriage house of the Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts at 11 Ford Ave.

The $15,000 budget for the mural project includes $3,500 that the city pays UCCCA to administer the program, Koury said. UCCCA plans to raise money and seek sponsors for the murals, he said, and contributions can be sent to UCCCA with a designation that donations are for the mural project.

The Beautification Committee has endorsed the mural project and the two paintings that are to be done this summer. At a meeting Monday, the committee gave final approval on the sites and agreed on preliminary designs.

According to the plans:

• The UCCCA carriage house at the Wilber Mansion, 11 Ford Ave., will be painted to appear to be made of stone.

Local artist Jennie Williams and two students from the Oneonta Job Corps Center will create the mural.

• Schebaum's law office was chosen because of its visibility on Main Street. The proposed mural is a depiction of "Col. Snow's Fire Engine," Oneonta's horse-drawn fire wagon dating from about 1870.

Artist Cynthia Marsh will paint the mural, based on a rendering provided courtesy of Huntington Memorial Library's New York State Room.