In the midst of its 38th year, Shadowland Theater has lived through the dark times in Ellenville, continuing to be a beacon for both artistic excellence and the return of economic life in the village.

And now, a new look is coming to the three buildings of Shadowland Stages — the main theater on Canal Street, the second space at Center and Market streets and the workshop on Center Street that was formerly a NAPA auto parts store.

In a statement, Shadowland Stages said, “For the past two years, Shadowland Stages has been interested in unifying the facades of its buildings, which have vastly different architectural styles. ‘The Shadowland Murals,’ created by Amy Park, are art for the exterior of Shadowland that match the mission, creativity, professionalism, and excellence of the art that has graced Shadowland’s interior for years.”

At Tuesday’s Ellenville Village Board meeting, Shadowland board President Jim McIntyre gave a presentation of the project. “Shadowland Stages is an artistic hub widely known in the Hudson Valley and draws thousands of visitors annually to the village,” he said. “Park’s mural speaks to everything that Shadowland strives to be for the region. It serves as an inspired and inspiring gathering place where people can experience imaginative, well-told stories.”

McIntyre added, "I'm thrilled to help create an exciting and memorable identity for the Shadowland campus and, by extension, signify that the Village of Ellenville is home to a vibrant and growing community with the theater at its core."

Amy Park, clearly in the grip of strong emotions, said she was “so happy about this project” as together with McIntyre they showed renderings of her designs for the buildings to the board.

Park is known for her watercolor paintings of New York City office towers, and her work was recently included in the exhibit "McCormick House: From the Collection" at the Elmhurst Art Museum in Illinois in the museum's Mies van der Rohe-designed home, and "Ed Ruscha Books & Co." at Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, California. She is represented by Morgan Lehman Gallery in New York City and Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles.

Park noted that the work was two years in the making, and said that she’d been through “twenty or thirty” iterations of the designs before getting to the one now chosen.

McIntyre emphasized to village trustees that the entire Shadowland board had approved the designs. Then he startled them by explaining the timeline. “We want to start Monday.”

That is Monday, Sept. 18 — muralist Josh Deitchman from Monticello will begin work straightaway. McIntyre said the timeline is tight because Shadowland wants to complete the project before the cold weather returns in late October.

While the village board was impressed with the quality of the designs and the renderings, Trustee Samantha Ellis brought up the inevitable issue.

“The only thing is we will be setting a precedent. Do we allow this on every building in the village?”

“This is a very ambitious project,” said Shadowland board member Ray Faiola, who was at the meeting. “Only problem is that it might set off others to decorate their buildings. But it might inspire like-minded attitudes.”

Victoria Messner of COFFE said the issue could be dealt with. “Just have some guard rails, requiring artistic expertise and that can keep it so not just anyone can paint the buildings.”

“Deal with it on a case-by-case basis,” said Trustee T.J. Briggs. “Not a problem.”

Amy Park, who shares the studio space on Market Street with her partner, the sculptor Paul Villinski, said the following in a statement: "I have explored architectural façades as the basis for my work as a painter, creating large-scale precisionist watercolor renderings and architecturally derived abstract paintings. In a gratifying ‘closing of the circle,’ this project takes the abstract vocabulary I developed based on architectural facades and carries them back onto actual building walls.

"My designs were created through many hundreds of sketches and are based on abstractions of the conical form of theater lights shining onto a stage. Working with my usual process of painting and drawing with watercolor and pencil, I developed a monochromatic, blue color scheme along with geometric designs for the buildings. Each wall has a unique design, tailored to its overall dimensions, style, and placement on the village block, but the overall effect is to tie the three buildings together and endow them with a vibrant, unmistakable identity."

One tricky task for Deitchman will be replicating the soft blue tones of Park’s watercolor work in more opaque paint for the exterior of the buildings. He intimated to the Shawangunk Journal that he liked the challenge in that and is looking forward to it.

Deitchman will be bringing Amy Park’s vision to life for all of us to see as he paints the 15,388 square feet of the facades of Shadowland’s three buildings through the rest of September, into October.