On the Road Again with Kristine Meek and Juliana Meek

ASK THE ARTSPERTS

Dear Artsperts,

As a longtime reader, I know you typically visit your artists in their studios in September and return with not only works for
the season, but a story to share. Do you have an interesting story this year?

Signed,
Road Trippin’

Dear Trippin’,

As is the case most years, we do have an interesting story. This is a long road trip that typically takes about two weeks to visit our artists with studios as far north as Maine. This being a business trip means we stay mostly at Hampton Inn hotels. The artwork in hotels such as these typically is nothing to write home about, except when we stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites at Yonkers-Westchester. To our complete surprise in each room was a reproduction photograph of a mural of Yonkers by Richard Haas,
whom we have represented for many years.

Richard Haas has created several large scale murals on buildings in many cities including New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Miami, just to name a few. He has a distinct style based on his roots in architecture. He often loves to create optical illusions and “fool the eye” images with his murals. When we encountered the photo of the Yonkers mural in our rooms at the Hampton Inn, we quickly texted Richard Haas with our excitement. He was equally pleased that a photo of his mural was in each room
for guests to enjoy.

The actual mural in Yonkers is at risk, unfortunately, due to construction. However, it is so well loved by the local community that the city has promised it would recreate the Richard Haas murals of Yonkers elsewhere downtown.

Of local note, several decades ago a savings and loan bank in Naples commissioned Haas to create a mosaic mural of Naples to be installed inside the bank lobby. The mural was created in Italy using glass mosaic tiles. As with most savings and loan banks of that era, this one in Naples also did not last long and the mural was never installed. It was subsequently donated to the City of Naples,
which placed it in storage.

Maquette of the Naples Mosaic Mural by Richard Haas,
mixed media on paper, 26”x26”

Several years passed before the city decided to install the mosaic mural. Upon opening the storage unit, they were surprised to encounter several piles of glass mosaic tiles. The mosaic was no longer intact as a mural. It turned out that the glue holding the mosaic tiles together was honey based. This is southwest Florida, and a honey based glue is far too tempting to all the insects and critters that must have found their way into the storage unit for quite the feast! The original maquette of the mural still survives though.

In addition to his murals, Richard Haas is highly regarded for his paintings, which are shown with Harmon-Meek Gallery.

Sincerely,

The Artsperts

www.HarmonMeek.com
599 NINTH STREET, NORTH, SUITE 309 | NAPLES, FL 34102 | 239.261.2637