A Lenape artist began work Wednesday on a Scranton mural that will draw on Native American and European cultures.
“I wanted to find some similarities between us,” said artist Ben Scott Miller, who is an enrolled citizen of the federally recognized Delaware Tribe of the Lenape and lives in Oklahoma.
That common ground will be depicted in scenes of dance, plus floral elements, on the side of the Brixx Building, 130 N. Washington Ave. The site already stands out because the 4.5-story wall has been freshly restored and painted white.
The 8,000-square-foot mural, “Remembrance and Continuance: The Lenape Story in Scranton,” will take about a month to complete. Lenape representatives will attend a dedication at 5 p.m. on Aug. 1.
A conceptional image, subject to change, of the mural going up on North Washington Avenue, Scranton. (Lackawanna County Department of Arts and Culture)
Lenape artist and designer Ben Scott Miller, at the Brixx Building. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The north side of the Brixx Building at 130 North Washington Avenue will be the location for a mural titled “Remembrance and Continuance: The Lenape Story in Scranton”. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Miller will work with a Spanish artist known as Belin. Miller’s wife, Heather Rae Miller, is also contributing.
The Lenape helped George Washington’s army and were promised political representation. The agreement was not honored and the Lenape were eventually largely displaced from the region.
“This is the first time we are welcoming them back officially with a symbol of love,” said Scranton Tomorrow’s Mural Arts Program Chairwoman Rose Randazzo-Pizzuto.
The mural is a joint project of the Mural Arts Program and Lackawanna County, with several sources for the $137,000 cost and help from the building’s owner, Art Russo’s ATR Properties. Randazzo-Pizzuto and Maureen McGuigan, the county’s director of arts and culture, credit the county commissioners for supporting the visual arts in general and the mural’s Lenape theme.
“This is more than a mural,” Randazzo-Pizzuto said.
Monday update
THEN: Lackawanna County commissioners announced in February a Scranton mural to acknowledge and honor the legacy of the Lenape people.
NOW: Work began Wednesday on the side of the Brixx Building downtown.