You can help paint these giant murals coming to the 34th Street Bridge

By Tolly Wright Posted: Monday May 8 2017

Photograph: NYC Mural Arts Project/Andrew Frank Baer

From graffiti to massive sculptures, New York is full of jaw-dropping street art. Now you can have a hand in creating the next massive mural project beautifying our city. On Saturday, May 13, Fountain Gallery is hosting a free and open to the public Community Paint Day where folks of all ages and abilities can put paint to two 84- by-7-foot murals, designed by artist Andrew Frank Baer.

The murals are part of the Mural Arts Project, and are a collaboration between the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and The Fountain House Gallery, a Hell's Kitchen nonprofit dedicated to artists living and working with mental illness. The mural designs stemmed from a series of workshops where members of The Fountain House discussed their experiences and challenges surrounding mental illness. Organizers of the project hope that the art, both its creation and the final product, will help facilitate conversations around the sometimes-taboo subject and its stigma.

Want to participate but you’re not much of an artist? Don’t worry: Baer created a “paint-by-number” design on plastic-fabric sheets, and muralists and the artist’s assistant will be on hand at the event. After the painting is complete the works will

be printed and glazed so that the mural will maintain vibrant colors for years to come. The public art project will be installed on the Port Authority 34th Street walking bridge between Ninth and Tenth avenue later in June.

Community Paint Day will take place at Fountain House Gallery, 702 Ninth Ave (fountainhousegallery.org, 212-262-2756). Sat 13, 10am-4pm. Register for the free event here.