Community Mural Magic
Since Art New England magazine last checked in with the powerhouse Afro-futuristic creative team known as Juniper Creative Arts in the January/February 2021 feature Arresting Art by Jennifer Mancuso, they have created the first BIPOC version of the Sistine Chapel, and literally pollinated the Vermont landscape and beyond with inspired community murals. There was quite a bit to catch up on.
Creating a whole new vibe for teaching artist residencies, Juniper Creative Arts has taken public art to the streets, as well as on silos and the facades of schools. Their Black and Dominican family brand (launched in 2020) is, in a word, magical. The collective consists of creative director, concept designer and herbal witch Jennifer Herrera Condry, her husband master muralist and illustrator Will Kasso Condry and their daughter mural arts apprentice and photographer Alexa Herrera Condry. Their work is immersive, symbiotic, and built upon a foundation of sustainability and homage to Mother Earth. Jennifer is an herbalist, and is teaching this ancestral wisdom to Alexa. They create and sell herbal teas (Vibe High is a favorite), incense and elixirs.
An important foundation of Juniper Creative’s teaching practice and artist studio practice is the role of the storyteller—to carry forth the legacies of Black and Brown people.
The most epic project to date for Juniper Creative is an 11-month project with Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center in Burlington, VT—The Wall of Respect: Luminaries of Justice and Liberation, completed in the winter of 2022. This 1,100 square foot vaulted ceiling mural documents 100 inspirational people of color over 230 years of Black and Brown revolutionary history, beginning with the 1791 Haitian Revolution. These are untold stories of triumph and inspiration. The figures invited themselves to the creators in dreams and visions… what began as a much smaller endeavor blossomed into today’s version of a BIPOC Sistine Chapel. Seeing the sketches come to life through projection and paint is breathtaking to behold.
As teaching artists in residence Juniper Creative Arts has been on a whirlwind tour of schools from the elementary school level through the college level throughout 2022, creating nine murals. They are now just beginning to exhale for some much-needed rest and spend time creating their personal projects.
Catching up with them at home in Brandon, VT, we discussed their most recent multi-tiered projects which took place at the height of summer tourist and pre-leaf-peeping season in Stowe, Vermont. Juniper’s Stowe murals are part of a larger collaborative project, The Lamoille Art & Justice Project which was started by Rachel Moore (executive director and director of exhibitions of The Current). The umbrella project involved a traveling oral histories exhibition, a community reading of the book “Stamped,” and a podcast series by Ayodeji K. Shokeye. (For more information, visit LamoilleArtandJustice.com.)
Juniper Creative’s mural Dandelion Wishes is the first on-ground artistic mural in the state of Vermont. The project was created with assistance from The Current’s Mural Camp and artist/co-instructor Will Gebhard, a group of Middlebury College’s MuseumWorks interns, and many community members.
The mural is located at the beginning of the Stowe Recreation Path, a 5.3 mile paved trail which begins downtown and crosses the West Branch of the Little River and winds its way up the Mountain Road. Along the way one can find the towering Silo Mural at The Alchemist Brewery, created by the family collective in 2021.
Intense research went into the planning of Dandelion Wishes due to its orientation. The heat pours directly onto the surface, and materials and techniques needed to be reconsidered. Design considerations were adjusted to make the mural more graphic—to enable multiple touch-ups. This provided a low-risk situation for functional design failure. Blending, etc., can be done in the future. Best practices for the longevity of a typical ground mural are generally one year to 1-1/2 years. Juniper Creative Arts intentionally layered the mural to reveal different colors (they come up) as the surface fades and changes.
This project was extra special in its highest level of community engagement—much more than any other the triumvirate has done. Conversation and questions from people passing by were part of every day.“We know the work is temporary… but it is impactful—there will always be a hint of it… the painting is the easy part,” describes Will. “Everybody sees a little bit of themselves in the piece.” For Alexa Herrera Condry who most often documents the progress of projects, it was her first time trying out a drone. Describes Alexa, “The surrounding landscape is such an important part of this creation.” The drone flew just above the spire of the Stowe Community Church.
Dandelion Wishes depicts a dragonfly stem—dragonfly and snake meet each other in the center. The end tail of the snake is a puffball. In its center are images of two local Stowe siblings with stars, diamonds and circles circling around them. Butterflies float toward the other end of the mural toward the footbridge. In all, the mural is 58’ long and 9’ wide.
“Everything we do is a team effort. No one gets the final word… unless it’s Jennifer” laughs Will. “It’s easy to get caught up in the details. Jennifer looks at the big picture to take the temperature on how this is going. For example, you see the root as you walk toward the base of the mural which is at the beginning of the recreation path. Then the mural happens. Just before the bridge, one encounters butterflies expanding into space.”
Juniper Creative Arts also created Phoenix of Transmutation at the Stowe Middle School. This mural residency began with a visioning session of 20 students. Some prompts used in the session include: Who are you? What are your fears? What are your hopes and dreams? What inspires you? What messages do you want people to get from the artwork? Juniper Creative Arts believes in instilling confidence in community participants with guiding questions and affirmations. “We work from a place of strength. There is a role for everyone in a community mural. How are you interested in contributing?”
Alexa worked with the students to understand references and energies—they were all in on her masterful dotting technique. “This mural, created in 10 days, was a highly physical piece—climbing, doing the outline and the base filling was surely one of our most tricky.” The mural is 25’ high. In all, 170 pieces of artwork are incorporated. Every student’s piece was included and every piece counts. There are plans in the works to build a seating area in front of the mural. It was a pleasant surprise that this mural has been such a community builder—people didn’t see that coming.
One of the last days of this residency was the anniversary of George Floyd’s death. There was a walkout planned that day. Knowing this, they made that last workshop group’s pieces smaller so they could finish. The walkout was a free choice option. It was a true teaching moment. Explains Jennifer, “We talked to the group about the importance of honoring life and lives lost to violent injustice. We gave them the option to choose their level of participation. If you choose to stay, it’s not a reflection of your commitment to justice.” Some participated in the walkout, some stayed. They noticed an energy change afterwards, particularly in the young men. They were quiet, took their artwork very seriously—they matured so much in that moment. The Juniper Creative Arts team gives much of themselves to the students, and it is so rewarding to get that trusting, creative energy in return. Will adds, “We open the door for people to come and experience yet it is serious work. When we work with young people and the communities we are brought into, we remind them that their work isn’t judged or graded—it’s pure honest work. We are inspiring literally another generation as they see themselves.”