Painting Tells The Story Of Nunnawauk Meadows

By Shannon Hicks

Residents of Nunnawauk Meadows know that David Merrill is in the house when they visit their community building and see the now-familiar blue minivan with the MURAL license plate on it.

Inside the building on Nunnawauk Road, Mr Merrill has been working since earlier this month on a new project for the senior living community near the center of town. Some of the institutions that were involved in the planning stage of Nunnawauk Meadows are being honored and memorialized this winter season.

While the weather outside is less than optimum for outdoor activities, artist David Merrill is steadily working on his newest mural project regardless of the snow, ice, and freezing temperatures around him. The community building is the hub of activity at Nunnawauk Meadows, where concerts, social activities, lectures, and health screenings take place. as well as the daily lunch program. These activities provide important social time to residents who often are limited in their capacity to venture out and/or who live alone.

Financing for the mural has come from donations to The Nunnawauk Fund, said Nunnawauk Meadows Assistant Administrator Arlene Neiman.

“People have made donations to the fund, and some have designated that their funds be used toward the mural,” she said.

When finished, the painting will measure about 25 feet wide by six feet tall. It will fill the space above the fireplace in the main room of the Nunnawauk Meadows Community Building, which is seven feet tall including its mantel.

Mr Merrill began work on the mural on January 5, and said recently that he expects to be working for four to five months on the project.

“I’m here every day, and have been getting to know many of the residents,” he said. “It’s been nice because they come in for programs or meals and they like to see the progress that’s been made since their last visit with me. It’s nice because it gives them something to watch in progress, something that’s developing every day.”

The mural will have a summer setting throughout, rather than breaking portions into the four seasons.

“It will look like any time between June and August,” Mr Merrill said.

The dream of a housing project for the elderly started back in 1968, when many clergy and church members came to realize that Newtown was losing some of its longtime residents because there were no multiple housing facilities to meet the needs of the local elderly. Not too much was accomplished until 1970, when the original 19 people from four churches in the community became a dedicated group of nine who established the present nonprofit corporation known as Newtown Housing for the Elderly, Inc (NHE).

The mural will therefore include those four churches — Newtown Congregational, Newtown United Methodist, St Rose of Lima Roman Catholic, and Trinity Episcopal — with one church in each of the mural’s four corners. The Congregational Church will be represented in the mural by Newtown Meeting House, since it was that building that NCC was using as its worship location when Nunnawauk Meadows was both a dream and in its infancy. (The church has since moved into new quarters at 14 West Street.)

A gazebo and its surrounding gardens are the centerpiece of Mr Merrill’s mural. The Nunnawauk Meadows Memorial Garden boasts plants, statues, and trellises and the gazebo is furnished with benches, chairs, and shade for the enjoyment of residents and their guests.

The mural’s border will all be subjects of Nunnawauk Meadows — its various buildings and landmarks — in silhouette, the artist said. The painting will also include images of Edmond Town Hall, the flagpole, and The Newtown Bee.

During the past week alone, a deer had been added to the edge of the woods near the gazebo and a large part of The Newtown Bee’s building had been added to the mural.

Painting the town hall, said the artist, will probably be the most time-consuming of all images.

“The Palladian windows, the pillars, they all take time,” said Mr Merrill. Between previous paintings and projects such as the mural inside 45 Main Street, “It’s about the fifth time I’ve painted that building,” he said.

When it is finished, the mural will be surrounded by molding, which will frame the painting within its space.

“We haven’t decided which style yet,” Mr Merrill said, reaching for and thumbing through a few catalogs, “but it’ll be something simple, something adequate for the space and the painting.”

“Mr Merrill pretty much has free rein,” Arlene Neiman said this week. “We told him we’d like the history of Nunnawauk Meadows, and its relationship to the town. He has devised the format and gave information to Mr [Frank] DeLucia [executive director of Nunnawauk Meadows].

“When we were in the talking stages, Mr Merrill showed Mr DeLucia some of his past projects and Mr DeLucia said ‘Yes, something like that.’ We’re letting him use his artistic license to present he scenes we’ve described.”

Ms Neiman expects there will be “some sort of acknowledgement” and public reception for the mural once it is completed.