Holley celebrates completion of agricultural mural on library

Photos by Tom Rivers

HOLLEY – Sandra Shaw, director of the Community Free Library in Holley, congratulates Arthur Barnes on Saturday for completing the second phase of a mural on the back of the library. Barnes painted the farming and country scene on the right side.

Tony Barry did the left side with an Erie Canal theme last year.

The library used a grant from the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council to pay Barnes for the project. The library will pursue more grants to extend the mural in what could be four phases in all.

Shaw said the agriculture mural highlights an important component of the local community of Holley, Murray and Clarendon.

“This is who we are, and we wanted to celebrate farming, agriculture and the industries that grew out of it,” Shaw said. “We are exploring our agricultural past and the people who built the wonderful farms in our community.”

Arthur Barnes is shown next to the apples he painted as part of the mural. He created the depiction from memory, recalling a country scene growing up in Shelby Center. Barnes said he picked apples as a teen for a neighbor, Jeff Smith.

Barnes painted a mural that is 25 feet high and 21 feet wide. Barnes worked on the project over the summer, painting trees, a church, wheat fields and an apple orchard.

Arthur Barnes is shown with the two murals together. His mural blends in with artwork painted on the back of the library last year by Tony Barry.

Barry painted a portrait of Holley’s namesake, Myron Holley, and a Erie Canal scene. Myron Holley was an early commissioner for the canal.

Barry shared some of his leftover paint and a color scheme for the overall project.

“I owe a lot to Tony Barry,” Barnes said. “It was his idea.”

Shaw said Barnes did a great job with the mural, and was very welcoming to the public when they stopped by to see the progress.

“I met some old friends and I made some new ones,” Barnes said about working outside on the mural. “It was more fun than I thought it would be.”

This is the sixth large-scale mural Barnes has done in Orleans County. The other five are canal scenes, including his first one in Holley from about 30 years ago. That one is on display in the Murray-Holley Historical Society Museum.