Maplewood Village Gets Its First Outdoor Building Mural: 'This Is the Place,' by Local Artist Jocelyn Fine
The new mural sits on the exterior of 164 Maplewood Avenue, above Village Coffee — a first for the Village, from an artist who has lived and taught in the South Orange-Maplewood community for more than two decades.
Maplewood Village has its first outdoor building mural. The work, titled "This Is the Place," by local artist Jocelyn Fine, has been installed on the exterior of 164 Maplewood Avenue, above Village Coffee, according to The Village Green as reported in The Montclair Girl's Nov. 1 Essex County news roundup, read in full by this desk on Monday.
The mural is a milestone for a village district that has built its identity on small storefronts and foot traffic: a permanent piece of public art on a building wall, rather than inside a gallery. Maplewood is not new to murals — its Springfield Avenue corridor carries a walking tour of them — but an outdoor building mural in the Village itself is a first, according to the report.
Fine is a familiar name in the township's arts community. She has been part of the South Orange-Maplewood community for 26 years, has worked with Jespy House in South Orange, and has taught a wide variety of classes across ages for the Maplewood Recreation Department, according to a Maplewood Division of Arts & Culture interview with the artist. Her work, the division noted, is defined by a reverence for landscape — places she has been and places she has dreamed of going — which makes a mural titled "This Is the Place" a fitting subject for a wall her neighbors pass every day.
The installation lands in a busy arts season for the township: this station reported Monday that more than 100 South Orange and Maplewood artists will open their studios to the public this weekend, Nov. 7-8. Village visitors now have a new first stop before they get there — above the coffee line at 164 Maplewood Avenue.
