sewage plant

ASBURY PARK — This newspaper has long prepared for the economic boom that we knew would one day hit our beloved little city.

We planned for it during our early years building up everything here that was creative, artistic and alternative — starting when the city was largely abandoned.

The inevitable economic boom would bring enormous pressures for conformity. That’s what happens when a place becomes hot. Our strategy was to build up artistic and cultural leaders and traditions that could withstand the onslaught — and be around to attract new types and forms of creativity.

The DIY and punk days of 20-25 years ago, when the few artists here could pretty much do whatever they wanted on an empty Cookman Avenue, are over. What’s replaced them in the creative tradition are people like Parlor gallery owner Jenn Hampton — the foremost arts leader in Asbury today with her influence all over — and powerhouse creatives like renowned music photographer Danny Clinch and his Transparent Gallery, which has also become an important music venue. (Hampton was here in the early days 20 years ago.)

The up-and-coming young creatives are still here in numbers actually much larger than 20 years ago. And more continue to arrive. They now live in Asbury Park or any of the interesting towns in the triCity region of eastern Monmouth a short ride away.

Still, Asbury Park is the driving force and engine in our region for the arts and culture (with Red Bank a strong second).
We give you that long-winded introduction to report about the latest on the mural project at the Asbury Park sewage treatment plant on the ocean. Yes, murals on our sewage plant! And what’s gone on there is a perfect example of why our city — stranded out here in a suburban region — stays ahead of the conformist curve. Where else is a sewage plant transformed into an arts icon?
Asbury arts leaders like Jenn Hampton, Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn, Asbury Park Arts Council Executive Director Carrie Turner and others put together a mural program for the panels on the treatment plant. The murals that have been stalled, as Amy Quinn says, are “phenomenal.”

The south and east sides of the treatment plant already have multiple murals. The last phase is ready to go. Request for proposals (RFPs) for the north face of the plant, which faces the senior citizen high rise tower, are now available for artists to return to the city. Quinn said that the city has approximately $5,000-6,000 to pay the muralist.

And demonstrating that Asbury Park’s commitment to the arts is all-ages, the impetus to do the north side of the plant came from seniors in the Asbury Towers high rise next door.
“Every year, upon completion, we ask the artists to give us feedback about the project as well as how it is, being an artist working in town on this project,” said Hampton. “Last year, the artists all shared that some of the seniors would show up and watch them painting and had asked when ‘their wall’ would get done.”

“This was heartwarming for me, knowing that they care and are interested in seeing art too. In fact, with Wooden Walls Project (the mural project Hampton curates on the boardwalk), I am hoping to acquire a golf cart to do a mural tour for seniors, in case they have not been able to see them all because of physical limitations,” Hampton said.

Both Quinn and Hampton are on the city’s Public Arts Commission, which approves public murals in the city. The commission is sponsoring this next phase of the mural project at the sewage treatment plant, with the Asbury Park Arts Council helping to coordinate.

Unlike the other sides of the plant with multiple mural panels, the north side will have one mural concept for the six panels there, Quinn said. New artists who have not painted other murals on the plant will be given priority. In addition, residents of the senior tower will be given input on the final choice of the mural.