After eight days of painting with the help of University of Massachusetts faculty and students, Congressman Richard Neal unveiled the 18-by-20 feet mural that Irish muralists Danny Devenny and Mark Ervine finished on Saturday.

About 200 hundred people, including members of the campus community as well as local residents went to see the finished product in the Campus Center Auditorium. The event was part of the Art of Conflict Transformation Event Series. It is also a belated celebration of the 10th anniversary of a historic agreement in the Northern Ireland peace process, The Good Friday Agreement, signed in 1998.

Host John Mullen, the Dean of the University’s Graduate School, also noted that this event was a celebration of Congressman Neal. The congressman worked for a year to get a visa for Devenny, who is considered a terrorist because he was once a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Leah Wing, professor of Legal Studies at UMass and the event coordinator, also noted that Devenny wouldn’t have been able to come to UMass without Neal’s help.

The main image of the mural is a golden statue of liberty with famous historical figures painted on her crown. The statue is surrounded by other images which represent the campus community and student ideals. It touches upon issues such as Justice for Jason and is also an outcry to stop wars worldwide because in war “there are no winners, only victims,” said Ervine.

The muralists said the most important part of their project was creating a mural that
reflected the ideas of UMass students and the campus. The artists were able to gather ideas from a blog where UMass students could post their thoughts, and they also held public Skype sessions over the past year.

Devenny and Ervine were once enemies in the Irish War of Indpendence. Devenny is a republican and former prisoner from the IRA while Ervine is a loyalist whose father was a Progressive Unionist Party leader and Ulster Volunteer Force member. The artists painted murals throughout the war which depicted the conflict, conveyed urgent messages and honored those who had died.

Devenny and Ervine met about four years ago and began collaborating to paint peace murals.. They are trying to help the peace process in Ireland by painting together and showing their communities that it is possible for past rivals to come together to create a peaceful future.

Devenny said that their mural painting at UMass was very different from their experiences back home in Ireland because the muralists spent decades painting images of war and conflict. However, he said they also celebrated the good parts of their lives and their culture through painting. This was the aspect of their work they tried to incorporate into the mural by creating a celebration of UMass culture.

Devenny said that “no world is perfect,” and so they also included pictures of things that UMass students felt were campus issues or areas that needed improvement. He also laughed and said that though the abundance of campus squirrels is a trivial issue, they were still included in the mural.

“I hope we have done justice in the representation we have created,” said Ervine.

The mural is also more than what it depicts, according to Devenny, who said that the project was a “demonstration of skills” and a way to “show students how murals are conceived and produced.”

The event included live Irish music and speeches by Chancellor Holub, Mullen, Wing and Neal, as well as a few words from the artists.

Neal called the event a “powerful example of what men and women of good will can accomplish.”

“We’ve all had a chance to witness one of those ‘it-will-never-happen’ moments,” said Neal in regard to the event, as well as the artists helping transform war into peace in Ireland.

Many of the students in attendance raised their hand when Wing asked the audience who had helped the artists paint last week.

Jenna Oelschlegel, a senior at UMass, who spent last year abroad in Ireland said that she enjoyed helping paint and said that the mural is “something that is going to be a great symbol for future students to learn from.”

Another UMass senior who helped paint, Alex Bonazoli, said that the mural is a great representation of the UMass community as well as a depiction of the “muralists themselves and what they’ve been doing in the peace process and the importance of the artistic process.”

The artists had planned to finish on Friday, but almost destroyed their own piece of work, said Devenny. As the artists applied the finishing glaze, the black markers the artists had used created black streaks across the canvas.

The artists had to spend an additional day fixing the mistake but Devenny said they didn’t mind because they “enjoyed the warmth and hospitality of the students.”

The mural will be hung in the Campus Center above the ATM machines.

The artists and the mural “have left a lasting impression already,” said Wing, who also said in her speech that the unveiling of the mural marked one of the happiest days of her life.

Anna Meiler can be reached at [email protected].