Painting this historic wall was such an emotional experience that it justified reviving this dead blog page just to tell the story. The ‘Clinton Gateway Mural’ project started in December of 2024, when Artifakt Studios was selected by a committee assembled by the town of Clinton to complete the mural. The initial call only asked for half of the wall to be painted - and the grant that funded the project only covered half of the wall - we took it upon ourselves to complete the full mural anyways, at our own expense, because we believed that it was the only suitable design. Leaving any amount of that crumbling grey eyesore of concrete unpainted would simply not be acceptable. And the town agreed, so we chose to paint to paint all 2600 square feet of it - our biggest mural project to date.

Extensive design work, meetings and planning took place for the following 5 months before any site work was started. References were either sourced by visiting the locations in person and taking photos, or from the local historical society. Accuracy and attentional to detail are an absolute must when you are tasked with encapsulating the entire legacy of a very relevant post-industrial New England town, especially a place with as much folklore and character as Clinton. As a kid I was magnetically attracted to this area, it has a mystique and allure that I later found out had the same attraction for several of my relatives. And it’s the absolute perfect place for creating street art, for many reasons. Namely the fact that this was a giant retaining wall for the railroad, which has always been synonymous with graffiti culture, and that today’s street art movement is an evolution of this aerosol medium. We wouldn’t have one without the other, and Clinton has a rich history of graffiti art, but has never had a proper mural, until now.

We began the site work on Mother’s day, May 10th, 2025, as a two person team consisting of myself (Ryan) and my wonderful colleague, partner and manager Audrey Tesserot. Insurance requirements prevented us from hiring any additional crew members, so we buckled up for a marathon of 12 hour workdays. Within the first week we were able to knock out the majority of sketching, fills, and shading, using exterior latex sprayed through a handheld airless sprayer, and an enormous amount of spray paint cans (roughly 200+ cans were used during the entire process). A key component of this design was utilizing the negative white space of the buff and keeping the letters empty white, saving a large amount of time and paint. It’s worth noting that this entire mural was sketched by hand using the tape grid method - no projectors or stencils were used.

Over the course of 3 weeks, we experienced a roller coaster of situations and emotions, pushed to the absolute limits of what our bodies and minds were capable of. The first and biggest challenge being that because our wall was over 100+ years old, and had large cracks that were not sealed, we had water running through these cracks which would cause our paint to bleed. We also had constant rainstorms, losing day after day of productive paint time, at the mercy of the elements. Certain equipment limitations would cause numerous setbacks and hiccups. Over time, working sun up to sun down day after day, the burnout started to set in, our bodies became sore, we burned the candle at both ends and then some. Despite our efforts to eat healthy, sleep well and hydrate, this project was kicking our asses. Not to mention, during this time period when we were rained out - we switched gears and painted projects for a few other clients, just to stay on track. It was absolute madness - my whole life comprised of being at the wall, eating at the wall, staring at the wall for hours on end. It seemed daunting to the point that it might never end, the reality of what I had bit off and had to chew was hard to ignore. Even when I wasn’t there, it was the only thing I could think about, my mind constantly calculating every single move, every stroke, every mark. Doing everything I could to make the process as smooth and efficient as possible, with absolutely zero margin for errors or mistakes. The overall scale of the mural, combined with the insane amount of traffic and visibility that this particular location has, as well as the pressures of limited resources, and the high expectations we had promised to deliver - was a heavy weight to bear.

Through sheer endurance, persistence and patience, we chipped away at the wall day after day until it was finished. It took roughly 12 days to complete, about 120 hours of painting, which doesn’t include the time spent traveling, designing, planning, sourcing materials, etc. Overall this was record completion time, considering the sheer size of the wall, and the fact that it was done by only two artists - a testament to our growth as a studio, our efficiency and skill as painters, and our determination and focus as individuals. It’s not easy being in a relationship like ours - we live together, work together, paint together, run a business together - it requires constant effort and communication to keep the creative chemistry alive. But after this project, we truly felt that together, we could accomplish anything we set our minds and hearts on.

Special thank you to the Town of Clinton, Lee Abdella for all of your assistance in making this happen, United Rentals for sponsoring the lift, Sherwin Williams for sponsoring the buff paint, and all of the unwavering support from residents, business owners, families, and visitors who stopped by and shared positive words with us during our project. We felt universally received and accepted by all, and any doubts of the transformational power that murals possess was silenced long before we finished the wall. I hope that the impact of this mural creates a ripple effect across New England, and that other post-industrial towns will embrace murals as a solution for urban revitilization. - RG

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