THING 5
Herkimer “Diamond Soup” Community Mural
Herkimer, NY
The “Herkimer Diamond Soup” Community mural is The Art Thing’s very first public work. Little did we know the amount of support and love that would go into it. Not only did we experience true community, but we also made lifelong connections and friendships.
This mural exists because people showed up, bringing their gifts and talents to the table, sparking a full on collaboration that all together made a mural soup out of it!
We set out to connect local artists with their community and community with their artists, and guess what, we did it! And when we say we, we don’t just mean all of us at The Art Thing. We mean the whole Herkimer community, the Mohawk Valley, and beyond.
It is with immense gratitude that we share with you here the story, its initial undertaking, the process itself, and the finished product to tell the reader that this mural truly embodied community in all senses of the word.
What You’re Looking At
The Herkimer “Diamond Soup” Community Mural (aka: Thing #5) takes its name from the restaurant it lives behind, putting a local spin on the Stone Soup children’s book story.
This mural reflects the variety of flavors that make up this place. You’ll notice the natural landscape of the Mohawk Valley, the beautiful Erie Canal and Lock 18, as well as a nod to its rich history depicted by our friend, Sam, the mule whom you might recall from the ole Erie Canal Song that goes, “I’ve got an old mule and her name is Sal, Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.” (We nicknamed her Donkey as a scapegoat to our consistently referring to her as a Donkey rather than a Mule).
Every ingredient and figure in the mural all represent something real and rooted here in the Herkimer story. The silhouettes throughout the mural represent the many different kinds of people who make up this community. The ballerina, a child holding up a Herkimer diamond, a basketball player, a couple dancing, and Sasquatch… (I mean we can’t really prove it doesn’t exist here.)
Keeping on brand with our theme of community we used the style of silhouettes to give the onlooker a chance to step into each character, to see themselves in each colorful outline.
At the far right of the mural, the lone diner holds a place at the table for you, for us, for anyone who’s ever dared to dine alone and then realized we’re never actually alone once we remember we’re all in this together.
The intention behind this choice was for the mural to remain open, alive, and only complete with all of you, the community as a whole surrounding it. We invite you all to join the lone diner and add your own color, flavor, or spice to the Herkimer “Diamond Soup” Community tale.
From Concept to Reality
What’s really wild is that the idea of community portrayed in this mural became exactly the experience we all had while creating it.
Unbeknownst to us, we weren’t just working with a concept or a wish, we were gathering proof. Proof that community still exists. That it’s right here in our own backyard, on our main streets, and in the places we often least expect to find it.
How It Began
When we first began imagining this project, we knew it needed a mission minded lead artist, someone deeply rooted in the Herkimer community and truly connected to this place. So we put out an open call, inviting artists from across the Mohawk Valley to help bring a brand-new community mural to life in downtown Herkimer. We weren’t just looking for technical skill, we were looking for artists excited about collaboration and who knew the value and importance of creating meaningful public artwork in our communities.
We selected Justin Como, a visual artist, natural collaborator, and Assistant Professor of Art at Herkimer College, to serve as lead artist. His involvement in the Herkimer arts scene and enthusiasm for bringing more public art to life in the valley was the first main ingredient. Como was all in, but he definitely stressed the importance of collaboration.
And so if this was going to be a true collaboration, we knew we’d need more artists, and more community minded supporters to help turn this idea into something real.
The Stone Soup Story
We brought another local Herkimer based artist, secondary studio art teacher at Richfield Springs, Dan Marrone onto the soup scene. Right down the street, sitting in Dan’s living room, the initial four members of the Herkimer Mural Collab Team gathered to devise a 1,000 sq ft community masterpiece!
To begin the process, we decided to start by passing around, and taking turns reading out loud, the children’s book Stone Soup by Marcia Brown. This book is the restaurant’s namesake where the mural would live behind.
Based on an old French tale, Stone Soup tells the story of three hungry soldiers who entice the members of a skeptical village into contributing to a shared feast. Because this is a melting pot sort of real community coming together story, we thought the mural should carry the bones of this story while grounding it firmly in Herkimer village and Mohawk Valley community, to give the people who grew up here that sense of connection and belonging.
That’s when it clicked: the mural itself would become a kind of stone soup in itself!
We met a few more times with that idea in mind, throwing ideas back and forth, working to bridge the gap between the classic tale and our desire to paint this real community tale.
Gathering the Ingredients
With Como’s final design in hand, we went out into the world to gather everything we’d need to make the mural soup.
None of this would have been possible without the donations & support from all the following local business that came through:
Golden Paints who supplied the best of the best mural paints for the wall and donated a bunch of it!
Sherwin Williams in Utica came all the way out in person to inspect the wall and determine exactly what primer and how much was needed to make the best, long-lasting foundation and donated every last drop.
Zibra Brushes helped supply us with the best mural brushes around, also donating a bunch of them to the community cause.
Stewart’s donated $250 to help us cover some material costs.
Collis True Value Hardware right next door in Herkimer was a big supporter too, helping supply us with some much needed basic supplies they generously donated to help us get started
Ace Hardware in Little Falls, as always, once again stepped in to help TAT find everything else we needed to make this THING happen.
Herkimer Lowe’s for helping us fill in the extra little gaps.
That Classic “Diamond Soup” moment: You’re shopping for a power washer to clean a massive wall, when a local community member and supporter like Robyn Safford from Little Falls stops you mid-purchase and says, “I have the same power washer at home. You can just borrow mine!”
That saved us a big cost, and she even came down and showed us how to use it! That’s what Diamond Soup is all about!
Prime Time to Paint
With the wall washed and buckets full of masonry primer, we were ready to go.
Thanks to a local teenager named Rain, blessed with the gift of height, we primed nearly 1,000 square feet of wall and set the foundation for everything that would follow.
Now we needed the painters, a DJ, a hype MC, a few other local nonprofits, and the rest of the valley community to come out to Stone Soup and bring it all together during our live mural painting Mohawk Valley Gives community giving party to officially kick off the mural on Sept 15, 2025!
The evening was led by hype MC Mike Cecconi, with music by Herkimer native DJ Mitch Duncan, setting the tone as the mural began to come to life.
While the painters painted, local nonprofits tabled alongside us, making this event into a full community gathering. These included ARC Herkimer, Mohawk Valley Today, and Hoffman Wellness Collective.
That night’s painting crew included lead artist Justin Como, Dan Marrone, local artist Roland Randall, Utica-based muralist Angela DeCarlis, Frankfort-based Utica muralist Maria Vallese, and Herkimer College student artists Lillian Norris and Willow Vaydenfeld.
It was a wonderfully fun, heartfelt evening full of color and music. Together, we raised over $2,000 to support more public art things in the Mohawk Valley, while also uplifting the other organizations who tabled alongside us that night. Huge thanks to everyone who came out to the pledge party to watch the mural begin its life. It meant everything to have you there.
Special thanks as well to the Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties for joining the celebration and gifting The Art Thing a canvas and easel to support our Art WAR program.
Sundays on the Wall
From September thru November we painted every Sunday.
Justin and local artist Roland Randall showed up each week, one came bearing the good tunes, one with a coffee, but both kept coming back with brushes out, ready to go. Often, Justin and Roland wouldn’t put the brushes down until the sun followed suit. There was a level of dedication and commitment to tackling the wall that inspired all, and it was the kind of energy that’s contagious.
More and more artists joined in, volunteering their time and talent: Dan Marrone, Carin Kent, Maria Vallese, Angela DeCarlis, Marjorie Stagliano, Erika Hoffman, Adam Spiridilozzi, and Herkimer College students Avery Cheyne, Lillian Norris, and Willow Vaydenfeld.
Maria and Carin showed back up multiple times, adding some real vibrant veggies to the soup party.
Joseph Chilelli and Ninfa Chilelli, owners of The Mohawk Valley Community Market showed up with bottled water and enough delicious food from the café to feed us for days! They always had our backs if we needed a tool or a hand.
One Sunday Roland brought the most amazing home baked brownies, and other special goodies for those of us with food sensitivities. When the pizza showed up it felt like family dinner, only with the ferocity of a pack of wild dogs, as everyone stayed standing, taking that opportunity of perspective shift to study the wall.
No matter what kind of weekend you were having, everyone showed up. Every Sunday brought with it a smile, a new stroke of paint, an ongoing battle with the wind, a little too much Teddy Pendergrass (or maybe not enough), and, most of all, those Sundays brought community!
When people get together for a cause they all believe in, like in this case, bringing a once blank canvas of brick to life, there is something really magical that happens. You get to see the best version of yourself and those around you. You get to feel part of something bigger than yourself. You lift those up around you, and feel held when the same is returned. When you collaborate with community and for community you create community. There is a certain harmony needed when you’re working with others to build something, and if you set that right community vibe it is something more easily achieved than we imagined. It’s no secret that when public art is made with love, intention, and connection, it has a positive impact, and the potential to bring together an entire community.
Thanks to Robbie Cirillo, chef owner of Stone Soup team for putting the pot on the stove by offering us the wall.
And to every artist, community business, and neighbor who added an ingredient to the soup.
This mural is what happens when a community cooks together. Because art and community are like any great soup. The mix is something richer than any single ingredient. When everyone brings something different to the pot, what we create together always becomes greater than anything we could cook up alone.
Meet the Lead Artist: Justin Como
Justin Como is an incredible visual artist and the Assistant Professor of Studio Art at Herkimer College, bringing serious talent (and serious heart) to this project and the Mohawk Valley. Originally from Greenwood, Mississippi, Justin holds a BFA from SUNY Oswego and an MFA from Ohio University, and has taught art at the college level for years, most recently at Mississippi Valley State.
Now based in Herkimer, Justin is big in the local arts scene! His creative style blends real technical skill with an eye for the story and symbolism. A combo that creates this extraordinary ability of his to capture that essence of real human community connection. From sculpture and painting to photography and design, Justin brings the whole visual art toolbox, and a belief that art belongs to everyone.
This mural wasn’t just a painting on a wall; it’s a community thing. And Justin’s at the heart of it, volunteering an immense amount of his time and skill and talent to help make the shared soup of the Herkimer story visible for all to see.
Want to Bring SomeTHING Like This to Life in your neighborhood?
Are you an artist, organization, or community group interested in bringing a public art project to life in your own neighborhood? The Art Thing would love to help support that process! From early ideas to gathering people, resources, and momentum. Reach out and let’s make someTHING together.