Up on the Wall: The Story of the Hestia Mural

Speakers:
Date:
Location:
Sponsored by:
Muralists Linda Bond, Mariah Fee, Susan Pontious  and Wednesday Nelena Sorokin
Saturday, June 18, 2016 at 2 pm
Neilson Library Browsing Room, Neilson Library, Smith College, Northampton, MA
The Mortimer Rare Book Room, Smith College and Historic Northampton
The History of Women in Northampton from 1600 to 1980 by the Hestia Art Collective
Painting the Hestia Mural, summer 1980
In the summer of 1980, the Hestia Art Collective painted the outdoor mural, The History of Women in Northampton from 1600-1980, in downtown Northampton depicting three centuries of women's history in Northampton.  The group aimed to bring back from obscurity women's contributions to Northampton society and culture by means of a public art work.  The mural was the culmination of nearly two years of preparatory work that included historical and technical research and fundraising by an initial group of ten women painters formed in 1978.  By 1980, the five remaining members of the Hestia Art Collective -  Linda Bond, Mariah Fee, Susan Pontious, Rochelle Shicoff and Wednesday Sorokin  - brought the mural to completion up on the wall of the telephone company building on Masonic Street. 
On Saturday, June 18, 2016 at 2 pm, four of the five muralists - Linda Bond, Mariah Fee, Susan Pontious and Wednesday Nelena Sorokin - return to Northampton to describe how the mural came to be.  The four will speak about creating the mural at Neilson Library Browsing Room in Neilson Library at Smith College.  They will present an illustrated talk about the evolution of the project and the many stages of its development including the fund raising efforts, the negotiations with the city of Northampton and the New England Telephone Company (now Verizon Communications), the community meetings, the year-long drawing process, and the actual painting of the wall in the summer of 1980.

The Hestia Mural was funded by a grant of $10,170 from the Massachusetts Foundation for Humanities and Public Policy and from contributions donated by Northampton businesses, organizations and individuals.

The Hestia Mural was awarded the Governor's Design Award in 1986.  Members of the Northampton community spearheaded a restoration project in 2003.
The Hestia Art Collective photographed in front of a scaled drawing of the mural for a story in the Daily Hampshire Gazette in 1980.  They are: Susan Pontious, Wednesday Sorokin, Rochelle Shicoff (originator of the project), Linda Bond and Mariah Fee.  Photograph by Richard Carpenter.
Up on the Wall: The Story of the Hestia Mural is co-sponsored by Historic Northampton and The Mortimer Rare Book Room at Smith College.   The program is the culmination of the Hestia Mural 35th Anniversary Lecture Series at Historic Northampton which began in October 2015.  Over the course of the mural's 35th anniversary year, Historic Northampton invited researchers to present public lectures on women in the history of Northampton and Florence.

Linda Bond is currently a Resident Scholar at the Brandeis Women's Studies Research Center and on the faculty of the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. For over two decades her artwork has addressed issues of social concern. It primarily explores the mediated experience of wartime. In recent years she has been expanding her studio work into social activism.  Linda lived in Northampton for ten years and completed her MFA at UMass Amherst.
Mariah Fee's public murals are large-scaled collaborations that bring communities, local government, corporate sponsorship and university historians together. She received a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from the University of Massachusetts and (first year) Amherst College, MA. Her studio and residence is in New York City, where she is part-time Assistant Professor at the Parsons School of Design. 
Susan Pontious is the Program Director for the Civic Art Collection and Public Art Programs for the City and County of San Francisco's Arts Commission.  She currently serves as a member of Public Art Network Council, a national professional organization associated with Americans for the Arts. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Massachusetts in 1977.
Rochelle Shicoff's paintings have been exhibited nationally and internationally.  In 2001 she co-authored The Mural Book: A Practical Guide for Educators written for K-12 educators.  Her public art murals can be seen in New York City, Massachusetts, Florida, Georgia, and Mexico. Among her mural awards are an Art in Action Grant, and The Women Waging Peace Award. She has received two public art commissions from the NYC School Construction Authority. She is currently a member of Gallery A-3 in Amherst, MA.
The Hestia Art Collective (at lower right) depicted on the mural: Susan Pontious, Rochelle Shicoff, Mariah Fee, Wednesday Sorokin & Linda Bond.
Wednesday Nelena Sorokin received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Studio Art in from Smith College in 1977 and a Master of Fine Arts degree from James Madison University in 1999. She is currently on the faculty of IS183 Art School of the Berkshires, the Springfield Art Museum, and the Becket Arts Center. Her painting draws on extensive experience with Jungian analysis. She developed Free Your Art, a class on working with intuition that she teaches regionally and has taught in New Mexico and California. The class evolved from her painting process, study of psychic healing, and work applying neuro-scientific theory.