Making main beautiful

Over the last week a new mural came to decorate the north side of Ninja Stylez Barber shop, a creation of California-based artist Mer Young who completed the project with the assistance of Kayleigh Day, an accomplished muralist in her own right.

When last we saw Young, she was painting the black and yellow mural on the west side of the underpass by the Whirlpool Bridge with Day helping out.

Day also recently completed a new mural at the Niagara Falls Post office. Young was on scene all week.

The Express photographed her daily from Wednesday through finishing on Saturday. Day was always there helping. Young finished Friday.

The design features an indigenous woman, the first to do so in the Heritage area where the majority of murals pay homage to Black history.

“I am indigenous so I thought why not pay tribute to the Ho-De-No-Sa-Nee,” she said.

Young counts Inde (Apache) and Chichimeca as her heritage. She works very hard. The weather for painting was very good, cool and sunny, allowing her to work for most of the daylight hours to complete the mural.
“It is very meditative,” she said.

The work was funded by a $49,000 grant from the state’s Cultivating Havens for the Arts through Regional Murals (CHARM) program as facilitated by the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area.

The CHARM initiative aims to create 40 works of public art in more than 30 counties. Last year CHARM funded 57 murals in 21 counties.

“This is a really great program,” said Ally Spongr DeGon, the director of public art for the Heritage Area. “It’s bringing community pride in public spaces.”

DeGon said that as part of their grant amount, they also plan to create a mural in Canandaigua in Ontario County as part of the Harriet Tubman byway.

In total, this year’s CHARM program will work with 12 organizations across each state region to create these murals; the release announcing this funding said they were chosen for their demonstrated knowledge of their regions, experience with mural projects, and relationships with key stakeholders. In Western New York, the Springville Center for the Arts is also listed as a creative partner.

The Heritage Area was involved with the creation of several other murals throughout the city, including the asphalt mural in front of the Niagara Falls Public Library, several near the Niagara Falls Amtrak station, one at Abate Elementary School, and one at Sammy’s Pizzeria.

You can learn more about Mer at www.meryoung.com