Shirt Factory owner plans ‘world-class’ mural garden

By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor

Eric Unkauf, owner-redeveloper of the Shirt Factory in Glens Falls, has an ambitious plan to turn the surrounding 5-acre campus he has assembled into a mural garden — officially “Muralgarten.”

“It’ll be a world-class tourist attraction,” Mr. Unkauf tells The Chronicle.

He sees it as a year-round draw that will be a “transformational catalyst” for the east side of Glens Falls, the city, Warren County and “the wider region.”

He plans to go before the City Planning Board in May, to seek initial approvals for the project, or portions of it.

“Definitely a destination,” says local mural artist Hannah Williams, who is working with Mr. Unkauf on the project along with artists Fred Holman and Tom Myott and retired Chapman Historical Museum director Timothy Weidner.

It’ll be open to the public, free, organizers said.

Mr. Unkauf said initial plans are for 30 murals, painted on the sides of buildings, on purchased shipping containers, on fencing and even on one low-slung rooftop — “all facing in,” he says, “to create the feeling of a piazza.”

Ms. Williams says an annual temporary mural labyrinth could be assembled from panels created by anyone from local school kids to artists from around the world, changing and growing every year as they accumulate more panels.

They said they are forming a 501(c)(3) non-profit to oversee and fund the project, and hope to add more board members.

Ms. Williams says, “The East End of Glens Falls is often underrepresented. This will be of real value to this part of the City.”

“It’s far from the sole goal, but this will be an impetus for more people to visit and appreciate this area of town,” Mr. Unkauf adds.

Mr. Unkauf expects the project will develop over “maybe 10 years” or more.

Cost? “Whew. Hmm. A lot,” he laughs.

He’s poised to start right away, with plans for at least three murals — including an American flag on the sloping back roof of the former Donohue and Higgins Candy warehouse at 182 Maple Street.

Mr. Unkauf recently bought that building — to use in part as a glass-making facility — along with the Community Action building next-door and small garage behind them.

The full property — much of it a former D&H railyard — also encompasses the Rock Hill Bakehouse building and several parking areas.

The plan is to landscape it with paths, native plants, free-standing mural panels, sculptures and interpretive historical signs researched by Mr. Weidner.

Every in-facing surface is a potential for murals, Mr. Unkauf said. He is also adding murals inside his buildings, including an ocean coral scene currently being painted by artist Rachael Rhianna in a small corridor on the first floor.

Mr. Unkauf paid for Esmond Lyons’s massive trompe-l’oeil mural inspired by the Hyde Museum’s Rembrandt “Head of Christ” on the Peter’s Pub side of a Maple Street building the developer also owns.

Mr. Unkauf said they won’t paint the Shirt Factory walls bounding the grassy space on Lawrence Street where his Food Truck Corrals and other fests are based.

Ms. Williams has plans for a Southwest nature-themed mural on the back of the Donohue and Higgins building.

Last year she painted the Adirondack flora and fauna mural on Warren Street facing St. Mary’s-St. Alphonsus School, funded through the Glens Falls Arts District portion of its $10 million NYS Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant.

Amber Lannutti of Rock Hill Bakehouse plans a native plants mural on the parking lot side of that building.

Some of the project is privately funded, Mr. Unkauf said. They’ve also partnered with the non-profit Community Action to seek grants — including from the Touba Foundation and from NYS Council on the Arts Decentralization money administered through LARAC — to help fund murals on Community Action’s two buildings.

Mr. Unkauf has already purchased several shipping containers his crew is prepping for a public “mural-thon” in July, bringing many artists on site to begin painting sections of those structures.

The shipping containers can also serve practical purposes for storage, or be built out to house vendors during festivals.

Ms. Williams and Mr. Myott will lead an educational aspect, sending mural artists or training videos to schools and classes that hope to participate.

They expect some murals will stay in place for many years, while others will be “constantly changing, always something new.” Over time, the 30 could “easily” expand by another 80, they said.

Mr. Unkauf said artists will be curated by a small committee led by Ms. Williams and allowed maximum freedom, “other than no violent images and nothing offensive.” He adds, “Artists who are allowed to follow their own passions will create their best work, rather than trying to please everyone.”

“Certainly the most memorable murals which one sees travelling are not the expected murals of local history and events, but rather the images that are unexpected,” Mr. Unkauf wrote in a proposal.

They said they were inspired by similar attractions in other cities.

Ms. Williams cites Wynwood Walls in Miami. They describe a former rough industrial warehouse district — once “hurting,” now “transformed.”

“It’s not just surviving but booming,” Mr. Unkauf says. “It’s a Top 10 Miami destination said to attract 6 million visitors a year after only just a few years.”

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