Library Mural

About the Artist:
Lisa Nicoll resides in Avon and has been Elementary Art Specialist at Albany Area Schools since 1987. She spends her free time with her family of four or in the garden. She pursues many forms of art – drawing, painting and mosaic. She researched and did an action research project centered on creativity in pursuit of her MSE degree. Through that study, she was most struck with the concept that creativity is not a special ability only a few people enjoy, but that all persons hold the capacity of creativity given a rich learning environment and the desire to achieve a meaningful goal.

About the Mural
In 2009, Friends of the Albany Library chose to celebrate the Summer Reading Program theme “Be Creative at your Library” in a special way, by hiring an artist to paint a mural. They spread the word and asked for artists who may be interested in helping with the project. Lisa Nicoll’s design was chosen by the group. Her connection to the community helped draw a lot of interest during its creation, especially from her students who visited the library during the summer.

Lisa’s ideas for the mural were born of the SRP theme with a special emphasis on the gift of creativity and divergent thinking. She wanted to play with the idea of the library and the act of opening a book as a doorway or portal to other places. Three-dimensional pieces were created from old books painted by children during two special craft sessions.

More photos of the mural can be found here.