It's a tranquil, lovely Sunday afternoon, and there you are: reading from a favorite volume in your home library, sunlight filtering through the trees in the nearby window, and many cherished objects of beauty arranged on tables and shelves. Pausing to digest a passage, you rest the book on your lap and glance up, becoming suddenly lost in the idyllic landscape before your eyes. Instead of an enclosing, blank wall opposite you, you see gently sloping hills dissolving into the seashore. Populating this scene are several unselfconsciously nude, garland-bearing women lingering on rocks and in the tide. Since commissioning that mural, this room has become a haven that is only reluctantly left.

The library belonged to lawyer, writer, and art collector Charles Erskine Scott Wood, who wanted a unifying element in his library that would tie together his collection of antiques, paintings, sculptures, and books. After discussing with American Impressionist friend Child Hassam, Wood commissioned the five-panel, oil-on-canvas mural in 1904, for his Portland, Oregon, home library and studio, where it stayed until Wood sold the house. The panels were then split up and given to his children, and most were eventually sold out of the family and remain scattered. The largest panel, entitled "Bathers," changed hands several times and was eventually donated to the Memorial Art Gallery, where it is currently showcased as part of the American Impressionist exhibit. The Hassam mural shares housing with the Maxfield Parrish piece "Interlude (The Lute Players)," which was commissioned in 1922 by George Eastman to hang in the Eastman Theatre. The oil-on-canvas Parrish mural was moved to the MAG to ensure stable air temperature and humidity, and a full-size color reproduction can be seen in the theater.

These are two examples of mural commissions, those for private enjoyment and those for the benefit of the public. They're also two success stories of preservation. Because the pieces were painted on large-scale canvases and installed in their original dwellings, it was easier to ensure their survival for our present enjoyment. But many murals are painted directly on walls, literally transforming a room into a work of art, but presenting complications and dangers to the preservation of that art.

The antique mural in the East Avenue home of  Charles Arena narrowly escaped oblivion twice. In the 1960's, the room it was painted in was damaged in a house fire; though the floor needed to be replaced, the mural was not harmed. The second danger came when Arena bought the house last September and didn't take an immediate liking to the mural. Nearly deciding to paint over it, Arena gave it a chance to grow on him - which it did - and he now appreciates its authenticity, the colors, and the depth. The mural is a complex scene of dreamy opulence: lush and exotic vegetation, fountains, beautiful architecture, peacocks and swans.

Worthy of note is the technique employed in the creation of the piece - it is an enormous, handmade block print that was installed in panels, and then painted over. The depth and loveliness achieved from the relationship of so many little pieces to make one massive mage is nearly unbelievable. Perhaps aiding in the preservation of the art's existence, contemporary muralist Rick Muto helped make the room enhance the mural by altering the shade of the green glazed woodwork to better complement the painting's colors.

A Rochester native, Muto has been paintings murals since he was in his 20s, but for a long time mural projects were few and far between. Interested in the decorative arts in general, Muto perfected his skills doing startlingly realistic wood grain and marble faux finishes. Since mural jobs have increased, Muto has done large-scale indoor and outdoor works, including a 7'x21' piece installed in the Bausch & Lomb board room. Created in the 1990's, the piece explores the history of the company's technological advancements and community interaction, and the storytelling imagery flows together in a nearly surreal way.

Some of Muto's commissions have arisen from involvement with the Arts & Cultural Council of Greater Rochester, and serve to beautify an urban area while educating Rochesterians on their rich history. The post office at Lexington and Dewey avenues sports a mammoth 8'x24' Muto work, which in a sweeping panorama, gives the story of the neighborhoods of old Rochester, on the High Falls side of the Genesee. Images include the geology of the gorge, Rochester's involvement in the Underground Railroad, and many landmarks of our city's earliest settlement. Listening to Muto discuss what he learned about Rochester's history in researching the piece is fascinating, and his enthusiasm is contagious. He enjoyed that he was able to "have fun with space and time" in the piece: with amazing skill, the background recedes into history, while the foreground depicts contemporary people in the very rose garden in which viewers of the mural stand.

Muto's private commissions are mostly attained word-of-mouth, and vary in size, shape, and style, depending largely on the client's tastes and budget. He says that he enjoys getting to know the people he works for, and projecting their personalities onto the walls. Projects have ranged from highly detailed Tuscan-influenced landscapes, to trompe l'oeil wood grain, marble, and architectural motifs, to tiny "niche" pieces illustrating local flora and fauna. He works in both oil and acrylic, depending on what best suits the purpose of the project: acrylics for durability outdoors, and oils for indoor works, especially if "an old world feeling" is desired. Though murals can typically range from $50 to $350 per square foot, the cost really depends on the complexity and detail of the piece, and the time it will take to complete it. Muto says he's willing to work with clients to design beautiful but simpler pieces to fit lower budgets.

Another local artist, Shawn Dunwoody, has been painting murals for 11 years, and receives grants from the Arts & Cultural Council and the City of Rochester for his public works. Clients range from the University of Rochester (Dunwoody did a mural for the school's Alzheimer's Lab), to private commissions, to Rochester City commissions of outdoor public works, in which he often involves local youth. Dunwoody pulls his inspiration for his art from his "life experiences and people, personalities," and says that he prefers when the planning process is a collaboration of community involvement. It's important to him that the public works "speak to the neighborhood," he says, and that they reflect the concerns of the people, while promoting a sense of pride in the individuals and the area.

One such example is the multimedia, Romaire Bearden-esque found-material mural at the Wilson Commencement Park on Joseph Avenue that Dunwoody completed with local kids. He used the project not only to beautify the location, but to teach the youth about incorporating recycling into the process of art making.

Dunwoody says that most of the time for each work is spent in designing - once he knows what a piece is going to looks like, the actual painting time goes rather quickly. He works mostly in acrylics for easy clean-up and quick drying time, and especially likes the non-toxicity of the house paints he chooses to use. This quality is particularly important in projects like the whimsical zoo animals mural he did for a nursery in a private residence.

In recent years, he has been creating what he calls "portable murals," a smart solution to the genre's sometimes problematic precariousness of permanence. Painted on canvas coated with exterior polyurethane to protect the work, then rubber-coated on the bottom, the pieces take on the form of mats or wall hangings, and can be moved from room to room or house to house, and even rolled up and stored when necessary. The dimensions of the highly durable pieces and the subject matter vary depending on what the client is looking for; the pieces I viewed were celebratory combinations of swirling patterns and inspiring quotes. These pieces are ideal for those of us who change room design often or move around a lot.

One clear benefit of commissioning a mural is the encompassing quality of the art - in transforming their space, clients are able to choose their surroundings to suit their personalities and tastes in beautiful imagery, while defying the notion that, while a room does need four walls, it needs to feel enclosed. Murals differ from mere decoration in that they have more fantastical potential, and in the largest, most complex instances, create an outer window into the inner world of the owner.

Contracting a muralist can be a serious business, especially when considering a (hopefully) permanent, directly-on-the-wall work. The client must have a measure of certainty about living with their investment. The themes that kept surfacing while talking with Muto and Dunwoody were a love for people and the desire to convey Rochester's full and fascinating history. In preserving these murals, both public and private, for future generations, we preserve the history of the private lives of individuals, and a record of the public concerns and hopes of the community.