A runner crosses the new wildlife mural on the sidewalk in front of the Mirror Lake Beach House in Lake Placid Tuesday, May 30. Volunteers painted the mural on Saturday, May 27. This project, organized by the Lake Placid/North Elba Arts Alliance, was designed to add more public art to the community. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

LAKE PLACID — Fresh, black asphalt on the reconstructed sidewalk in front of the Mirror Lake Beach House provided a canvas for this village’s newest public art installation — a colorful mural featuring Adirondack wildlife.

There are few pieces of public art in the village of Lake Placid and town of North Elba, which are known more for hosting the 1932 and 1980 Olympic Winter Games and a variety of other international sporting events, such as World Cups for ski jumping, luge and bobsled/skeleton; the Lake Placid Horse Shows; and the Ironman Lake Placid triathlon.

Members of the Lake Placid/North Elba Arts Alliance — a subcommittee of the Lake Placid/North Elba Community Development Commission — want to change that “sports town” mentality and highlight the town’s rich cultural heritage — its art and history.

Formed in 2021 as part of the latest village/town comprehensive plan, the Alliance has five voting member organizations: Community Development Commission, Lake Placid Center for the Arts, Lake Placid Sinfonietta, Lake Placid-North Elba Historical Society and Adirondack Film.

As volunteers began painting the mural at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 27, LPCA Managing Director Jon Donk explained that Arts Alliance members initially wanted to install the mural on the Hillcrest Avenue asphalt near Teddy Bear Park, but the Lake Placid Village Board of Trustees denied the request. So they went to Plan B and installed the mural at the beach house.

Volunteers help paint a mural on the sidewalk in front of the Mirror Lake Beach House in Lake Placid on Saturday, May 27. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

Arts Alliance members expect that the paint will fade in the summer sun and in the winter — and with foot and bicycle traffic — and a new mural may be installed every spring, with a new theme and design. The hope is that public art will be installed in other locations throughout the community, possibly on Hillcrest Avenue or another street.

“This is not a community that is used to public art, so to get them to support something, we have to tell them this isn’t permanent,” Donk said. “Let’s just do it and see people excited about it and then maybe they’d be open to a wall (mural) or something that would be more permanent.”

In addition to getting beach traffic in the summer, this stretch of sidewalk is a part of the popular 2.6-mile trip around Mirror Lake, which is popular with walkers, runners and cyclists.

“This is a good test because the space we were going to use on Hillcrest was huge, and so this allowed us to pare it down a tiny bit, so that it is a good pilot spot,” said Arts Alliance Chair Lori Fitzgerald. “And it is a good mixed use spot. We don’t want to do everything for tourists. We want to be able to have an impact on our community as well.”

This mural was a community project, designed by local students and art professionals — Parmelee Tolkan and Ingrid Van Slyke — and completed by volunteers and members of the Arts Alliance.

Ingrid Van Slyke, left, and Parmelee Tolkan help paint a mural on the sidewalk in front of the Mirror Lake Beach House in Lake Placid on Saturday, May 27. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

Using the theme of “Adirondack Wildlife,” the design began with elementary school students — St. Agnes School, North Country School and the Lake Placid Elementary School — who drew Adirondack animals.

“Then Ingrid’s students at Northwood (School) figured out how to lay all these animals together,” Donk said. “And then Parmelee and Ingrid had the task of taking all of that with Naj Wikoff and making this. So it’s a game of telephone but in a painting.”

Earlier this month, Arts Alliance members reviewed the students’ proposed designs and selected a submission from Northwood School student Tam Nguyen. Village board members approved the design and finalized the location. Employees at the Lake Placid Public Works Department assisted with the site preparation.

In front of the beach house, white paint was used to cover the black asphalt for the canvas. Then Tolkan and Van Slyke mapped out a grid for the mural’s elements — a “paint-by-number” system — and sketched the outlines of the animals with black chalk. Volunteers then painted the black portions of the mural and added colors later. Sand was added to the paint for traction.

Animals include a bear, owl, beaver, red fox, common loon, moose, white-tailed deer, raccoon, butterflies, frogs and squirrels.

Misa Fukuju helps paint a mural on the sidewalk in front of the Mirror Lake Beach House in Lake Placid on Saturday, May 27. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

“This project provides an opportunity to connect with the community, add some color to the village and kick start our efforts to add public art throughout the village and town,” Fitzgerald said in a press release.

The Arts Alliance is responsible creating and facilitating the village/town Public Art Master Plan, which is “based on the belief that art enhances, defines, and reflects a community’s character and image.

“Art makes public spaces more welcoming and creates a deeper interaction with the environment — the places where we work, live, shop, and seek recreation.”

Members of the Arts Alliance are planning to create and install more public art throughout the community, including murals, and they and are consulting with town officials on the restoration of the 1980 Olympic cauldron at the North Elba Show Grounds.

When talking about the sidewalk mural at the municipal beach, Donk referred to work done by Bloomberg Philanthropies, which launched the Asphalt Art Initiative to highlight public art across the globe.

Jim Witmer helps paint a mural on the sidewalk in front of the Mirror Lake Beach House in Lake Placid on Saturday, May 27. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

“Art has the power to transform cities and make their public spaces safer and more vibrant,” states the Bloomberg Philanthropies website at www.bloomberg.org. “The Asphalt Art Initiative provides guidance and funding to cities around the world for visual art interventions on roadways, pedestrian spaces, and public infrastructure. The program assists cities looking to use art and design to improve street safety, revitalize public spaces, and engage their communities.”

The Asphalt Art Initiative promotes projects from cities that are embracing art “as an effective and relatively low-cost strategy to improve and enrich their streets.” Asphalt art includes visual interventions on roadways (intersections and crosswalks), pedestrian spaces (plazas and sidewalks), and vertical infrastructure (utility boxes, traffic barriers, and underpasses).

Bloomberg also provides a guide for communities, “Asphalt Art Guide: How to Reclaim City Roadways and Public Infrastructure with Art,” which highlights case studies in places such as Seattle, Washington; St. Petersburg, Florida; West Palm Beach, Florida; Portland, Oregon; Des Moines, Iowa; London, England; Asheville, North Carolina; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The guide is available as a PDF download at https://asphaltart.bloomberg.org/guide.

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Arts Alliance master plan

Maria Hoffman helps paint a mural on the sidewalk in front of the Mirror Lake Beach House in Lake Placid on Saturday, May 27. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

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The Lake Placid/North Elba Arts Alliance’s master plan outlines 12 goals, according to Arts Alliance Chair Lori Fitzgerald:

1. Maintain high artistic standards in works of art displayed in the permanent and temporary collections and spaces of the village and town.

2. Enhance our community’s image locally, regionally and nationally by ensuring the presentation of the highest quality public art.

3. Create exciting, appealing and harmonious spaces by integrating public art into architecture, design and public space planning.

4. Build awareness of community history, culture and geography.

5. Provide uniform procedures and policies for donations, loans, commissions and the decommissioning of public art.

6. Outline the responsibility of the village and town for ensuring management and maintenance of public artwork.

7. Facilitate planning for the placement of art in village and town facilities and public spaces.

8. Assure appropriate recognition of all displayed artworks in the village and town.

9. Create safe and accessible public art areas.

10. Care for the collection with an ongoing review and tracking system for maintenance needs.

11. Create an art fund to maintain the integrity of the public art collection for future generations.

12. Create an inventory and map of existing public art and assess management and maintenance needs for each.

Sofie Fachin helps paint a mural on the sidewalk in front of the Mirror Lake Beach House in Lake Placid on Saturday, May 27. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

Judy Borzilleri helps paint a mural on the sidewalk in front of the Mirror Lake Beach House in Lake Placid on Saturday, May 27. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

Bill Borzilleri helps paint a mural on the sidewalk in front of the Mirror Lake Beach House in Lake Placid on Saturday, May 27. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

Volunteers help paint a mural on the sidewalk in front of the Mirror Lake Beach House in Lake Placid on Saturday, May 27. (Provided photo — Lori Fitzgerald)