New Mural Unveiled In Chatham After 5 Years Of Planning

CHATHAM, NJ — After several years of planning and work, Chatham Borough's newest mural has been completed, bringing more color, optimism and art to the community.

The mural, which now decorates a section of the Washington Avenue railroad underpass, was unveiled by the borough on June 3.

The project was spearheaded by the Public Arts Council of Chatham Borough, which began the process five years ago but was slowed down due to the pandemic, officials said.

The mural was created to complement the existing Fairmount mural.

The Washington mural, like the Fairmount mural, educates viewers about local history while also highlighting the community's contemporary culture.

"These are companion murals done by the same artist, Kenji Hasegawa, who is an art teacher here in our public school system. They are beautiful. It's two murals that have been put in, echoing Chatham's past and Chatham's future," Council member Carolyn Dempsey said during the June 12 council meeting.

The pandemic slowed the completion of the mural because the artist, Hasegawa, wanted the community to participate in its creation. According to Dempsey, Hasegawa invites volunteers to work on the mural before assembling all of their pieces.

"He was unable, during the pandemic, to have all the volunteers come in to work on them. It took a long time," Dempsey said. "This is a wonderful contribution to Chatham that I'm thrilled we will be able to enjoy for years to come."

According to officials, the project was made possible by grants from the Woman's Club of Chatham and the Chatham Jaycees, two local organizations known for contributing to the community.

This is the Public Arts Council of Chatham Borough's second mural project; the Fairmount mural was installed in 2014.

"Public art provides us with often underappreciated cultural, social, and even economic value. It humanizes the built environment and it invigorates our public space. It reflects and reveals our community and it serves as an intersection between our past, our present, and our future," Mayor Thaddeus J. Kobylarz said. "Kenji helped transform this otherwise mundane space into a vibrant expression of not just Chatham Borough's identity but of the human imagination."