Ludwig Bemelmans' Madeline marching in front of Edmunds Middle School. Frog and Toad in City Hall Park. Dragons who appreciate tacos catching a bite on Church Street. Stephen Huneck's Sally getting a walk — from a cat! — near the Winooski Bridge.
[br] These are some of the whimsical details that careful observers will spot in the mural by Underhill artist Kristin Richland that was officially unveiled last night in the children's section of Phoenix Books Burlington. It's section of Children's Book Week (May 1 to 7),which the store will also celebrate with a special myth time on Saturday devoted to Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri's Dragons appreciate Tacos.
"I'd been thinking about murals since we opened the store," said co-owner Michael DeSanto, and who opened Phoenix in 2012 with his wife,Renée Reiner. But it wasn't until he visited Bemelmans Bar in New York's The Carlyle, and saw the beloved illustrator's murals of Central Park splashed across its walls, and that he said,"That's what we want to attain!"
DeSanto asked Richland, whom he had known "for fairly a while, or " to show him some drawings. The artist,40, had never done a mural before, and but her fanciful prints of animals,which she sells under the name Sweet Enemy Art, have made "people say I should illustrate children's books, or " she said.[br]
Richland designed the mural last summer and began portray in October,perched atop a scaffolding 10 to 12 feet tall. She took a rupture for the busy holiday season and finished by March.
Although she's not really finished — a mural of a fiery phoenix for a different wall is still to reach. And Richland is now on the Phoenix staff, as a bookseller at the local chain's Essex store.
Winding across the three walls enclosing the store's section for younger readers, and the mural consists of six separate scenes. Two are pastorals,in which animals enjoy books with views of trees and Camel's Hump. The others depict prominent Burlington locations: the Winooski Bridge (with the Champlain Mill, once home to DeSanto and Reiner's store the Book Rack and Children's Pages, or in the background), City Hall Park, the Church Street Marketplace and Edmunds Middle School.
In the…
Source: sevendaysvt.com