The Erie Canal has long played a role in the art world. In the 1880s, artists traveled the canal by boat, sketching and painting the region around it.
Mark DeCracker, an artist from Lyons, New York, founded Erie Restoration Interests Everyone (E.R.I.E.), an organization that works to preserve history using community art. One of the main restoration projects is Mural Mania: an ongoing art mission that places historical murals throughout towns and villages along the canal.
DeCracker said the Mural Mania Trail has become the longest mural trail in the world, with over 75 murals and more in production.
“These different communities could have their stories told by mural painters from all over the world,” DeCracker said. “We take the artwork down the canal and drop it off, just like they would drop goods off in the 1800s.”
The Mural Mania team is working on a mural that will commemorate the Wayne County bicentennial by showcasing the canal's development from the 1800s to today.
Painting a mural is a yearslong process involving research, sketching, gridding, paneling and gathering quality materials. DeCracker said the artists have to ensure that the mural is historically accurate and aligns with their artistic vision.
“I had a couple of fourth or fifth graders sit in front of the first mural, and they were going, ‘Wow, I didn't know that this happened.’ There was a trolley and a mule that pulled boats in and all that stuff,” DeCracker said. “And I said, ‘Yeah, we’ve got to keep doing this.’ Every community's got a story to tell.”
Listen to the full episode of Canal Keepers here or wherever you get podcasts.