Artist’s mural graces Mullarkey’s Irish Pub in Downtown Willoughby - The News-Herald
Published by: The News-Herald
By Marah Morrison
Original Article found here
When the Willoughby Arts Collaborative posted a competition online to design a mural with an Irish theme outside Mullarkey’s Irish Pub in Downtown Willoughby, Beth Lynne Gregerson was moved to participate.
“Being a mural artist and living in Willoughby, I wanted to work on this,” she said. “I thought about different ideas and I wanted to come up with something that would convey a lot of Irish elements. I actually found out recently, with DNA testing, I’m 4% Irish. I would love to travel to Ireland after researching all the beautiful places.”
As it was going to be an outside mural on a public space, Gregerson wanted to create the mural in such a way that it would be interactive.
“People can stand in front of it and have their photo taken,” she said. “I thought of giving it a lot of depth and kind of an enchanted portal, and then showing some of the elements from Ireland — castle, Cliffs of Moher and an Irish harp.”
After combining those elements for her mural along with Irish flags and entered the design, Gregerson was selected.
“I was very happy to be working on it,” she said.
Gregerson’s mural is now on the outside of Mullarkey’s, located at 4110 Erie St. In early April this year, she did an initial smaller sketch for entry into the competition.
“When it was selected, I had to work on a larger size and found out from the printer what the specifications were,” Gregerson said. “After we got approval, I was able to start it in early July. We wanted to have it up in time for the ArtsFest.”
The installation of the mural was dependent on the weather as dry, sunny days were necessary, Gregerson said.
“Once I finished the design, it had to be scanned in and then the printer printed it to size,” she said. “There’s actually five different sections that are installed. We installed it the day before the ArtsFest.”
John D. Bowers, owner of Mullarkey’s, was part of the mural project and commissioned the Willoughby Arts Collaborative to put the mural on the side of his building, Gregerson said.
“He was very involved and was part of the process of selecting the design, and approving everything,” she said.
Gregerson said Bowers made changes to the signage that’s included in the mural so it would feature a few locations in Ireland, once of which, Ballyhaunis, being where his wife is from.
The mural also features Cead Mile Failte at the top, which means 100,000 welcomes, expressing warmth and hospitality.
“I thought it would be perfect for a mural that welcomes people in the area,” Gregerson said.
She is a Northeast Ohio-based illustrator, muralist and fine artist with more than 25 years of experience creating custom murals, as well as public art installations for residential, commercial and public spaces. Willoughby has been her home for more than 30 years.
In addition, Gregerson works out of her art studio and gallery boutique, Beth Lynne Studio, located in Fairport Harbor at 217 Third St.
She enjoys taking on projects and also conducting research to have her work fit the community it will be located in, featuring elements that will be appeal to people in that area.
Going forward, among Gregerson’s goals as an artist is to do a stamp for the U.S. Postal Service and beautifying more areas with artwork that will draw people in.
“I’m interested in doing a lot more murals like this and doing more in any other community whether indoors or outdoors,” she said. “I’ve done murals years ago and took a break from that. I did enjoy getting back to it.”