Artist Matt Duquette's new mural is on the side of Pulp 716 in North Tonawanda. It features a one-eyed sea monster. Matt says "I'm a commercial artist, so I'm usually painting something smaller-on the computer so it's a great experience to do something this large."
Audra Linsner's mural is just down the street inside the Project Pride Alleyway. Audra says "It's kind of a collage of all sorts of elements that make North Tonawanda where it is."
The murals were commissioned by the Lumber City Development Corporation through the New York Main Street grant according to the non-profit organization's Executive Director Laura Wilson. She says "We recently made a lot of walkability enhancements to our downtown with the crosswalks and the bump outs and this (the murals) just amplifies that and gets people out to visit our small businesses and our waterfront."
Matt says he's never created a monster on a mural before and adds "Whether you understand all the references or not, I wanted to create something that would make people stop and smile."
Audra says "For a place with as rich a history as North Tonawanda, it was important to make (the mural) feel classic, but modern enough to celebrate the work that's gone into making it such a great area."
