Mural installed at Lewes History Museum
Jerry and Zofia Bleth are new residents of Lewes.
They were among the people who stopped to admire the city’s newest mural, a timeline of its past that now hangs on the Lewes History Museum.
“We really don’t know the history of Lewes, so this puts it in a picture story. It’s just beautiful,” Jerry said.
The mural depicts Lewes maritime history, the labor and industry that has taken place along the water, from creek to canal.
The mural moves, left to right, through history, from Native Americans, to the arrival of the Dutch in 1631, to the Underground Railroad to the city’s robust shipbuilding industry.
Artist Michael Rosato painted the panels in his Maryland studio. He installed them in two sections Sept. 29, on the side of the building that faces Kings Highway.
He returned the next day to add four layers of clear-coat and an anti-graffiti coating.
Rosato is best known for the “Take My Hand” mural at the Harriett Tubman Museum in Cambridge, Md.
He called the installation the most stressful part of any project.
Rosato got much-appreciated help from Tony Boyd-Heron, who served as the project manager for Art in Bloom.
“It started with the original idea of reproducing a painting that is at the University of Delaware. I posed the idea to the public art committee and then we started to talk about something bigger,” Boyd-Heron said.
The Lewes Public Art Committee, Art in Bloom and Historic Lewes, formerly the Lewes Historical Society, each contributed $10,000 to the project.
Heidi Lowe, PAC chair, said the finished product is better than she could have expected.
“Michael is an amazing artist, and the way he brought it to life speaks for itself,” Lowe said.
Rosato brought the artwork to life with a 3D effect called trompe l’oeil, a French term for tricking the eye.
People admiring the mural immediately notice a deer, a ship’s bow and more jumping off the wall.
“The minute you bring something out from the plane, it becomes more three-dimensional. It makes people look a little bit closer. It engages the viewer in a way that, if it was just flat, it might not,” Rosato said.
Ed Zygmonski, co-chair of Art in Bloom, said they are seeking a grant to add lights and signage.
Bill Shull has been covering Lewes for the Cape Gazette since 2023. He comes to the world of print journalism after 40 years in TV news. Bill has worked in his hometown of Philadelphia, as well as Atlanta and Washington, D.C. He came to Lewes in 2014 to help launch WRDE-TV. Bill served as WRDE’s news director for more than eight years, working in Lewes and Milton. He is a 1986 graduate of Penn State University. Bill is an avid aviation and wildlife photographer, and a big Penn State football, Eagles, Phillies and PGA Tour golf fan. Bill, his wife Jill and their rescue cat, Lucky, live in Rehoboth Beach.
