LYNN — This past summer was abuzz with the design of murals around the downtown as part of Beyond Walls, but one of the city’s more famous pieces of art has been around for nearly 30 years.
A 650-square-foot mural in Heritage State Park, which depicts the history of the city, was completed in 1988. The project was a two-year effort by artists Lilli Ann and Marvin Rosenberg, who worked with dozens of Lynn area residents who had presented them with a variety of material for the finished work. The mural is located on the wall of a residential building.
“It was probably one of the first significant pieces of artwork that had been done in the city, definitely one that was a collaborative effort,” said Jansi Chandler, community development director from 1986 to 1998. “I think a lot of people don’t know that it’s there — that Heritage State Park is there for them to enjoy.”
The colorful nine-panel mosaic mural of ceramics and Venetian glass at the 4½-acre landscaped waterfront park shows Lynn’s dominant place in the shoe industry and the role that a long line of immigrants played in building that industry. It also contains pressed leaves from Lynn Woods, jet-engine parts from General Electric Co. and other symbols of Lynn’s heritage.
Chandler said the artists were just really fun people, and were creative about weaving together the pieces created by Lynn citizens, including school kids, who would make something that was meaningful to them.
She said there was a feeling of pride from people when they saw how their small pieces fit into the grand mural. She said Beyond Walls reminded her of the mosaic effort, in the sense that “there was this really great spirit around the city.
“It was a long time ago, but I do remember it as being a really kind of festive time,” Chandler said. “There was definitely a feeling of people coming together, of people working together to produce something significant.”
Ed Calnan was the city’s first community development director and secured the funds to hire the artists who completed the mural.
Calnan said the piece, which is about 40 feet long and five feet high, was an effort that involved a lot of Lynn citizens who actually made the pieces and then the artists colored them and put them in a kiln. He said the pieces were then set in concrete and depicted different sections of the city from a viewpoint of the harbor — starting from the left side with the GE industrial complex and the extreme right of the mosaic that ended with Lynn Woods.
Calnan said the mosaic involves what people thought was important in the city — someone who went to Lynn English High would make a piece that depicts the high school in clay, it would be colored by the artist, put in a kiln to bake and would have been set in the proper place in the mosaic.
The work was commissioned jointly by the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) and Seaport Development Associates, a private firm. EDIC, Community Development and Step Up With Lynn provided critical support for the project.
But former city officials say the mosaic and park need some work to get back to its former glory.
Kevin Geaney, city planner from the 1970s to early 1990s, said that recently, he and Kathy Wrynn, who used to work for DEM and was one of the driving forces behind the mosaic, found themselves at Heritage State Park and were discouraged at its condition. He remembers the effort to put the mural together, saying that it was a really fun time and “to see it just kind of dying from neglect is a little disconcerting.
“I think when cities allow things like this to deteriorate and people see that, they come away with the opinion that maybe the city doesn’t care too much,” Geaney said. “They wouldn’t be aware that the site itself is owned by the state … I think maintaining the city’s image is as much economic development as anything else you can do.”
Heritage State Park features a long boardwalk that borders the seawall and offers a sweeping view across Lynn Harbor and Massachusetts Bay, with the Boston skyline in the distance. A walk along the boardwalk will bring someone to the mosaic, according to the Essex National Heritage website.
Calnan, community development director from 1974 to 1986, said the park itself needs major work — the walkway has been sinking through the years and the activity from the ocean has washed out the stone in between the joints of the boulders — an edge on the park was designed with large stones.
“I think what the Heritage State Park needs is just restoration of what’s there,” Calnan said. “I think it was very well designed. Like anything, it needs a little more than upkeep. Sometimes it needs heavy maintenance in certain spots. I think with the developments going down there — the apartment complex on Beacon Chevrolet site and so forth, it would be in everyone’s interest to get some money from the state to bring it back to what it looked like when it was opened in the ’80s.”
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