Art and history come together in Seaford

A new mural at the Seaford Historical Museum is nearing completion, part of the effort to revitalize the former schoolhouse.

Seaford resident Cliff Miller has been commissioned to paint the roughly 100-square-foot mural, which depicts duck hunting on the Great South Bay circa 1890. Miller is well known for his paintings around Seaford, including the Vikings mural on the middle school which overlooks the football field. He also has painted murals at Seaqua Deli and D&P Auto, and did the official painting of the Seaford 9/11 Committee, “Coming Home.”

The new mural is based off of a photo that Miller created. Ken Nersesian, an avid duck hunter from Seaford, provided Miller with the background — a photo of the water and sky at sunset. Nersesian himself will be the subject of the mural, as Miller took the photo of him in the museum using lights with orange filters.

Miller also took a picture of a dog, as well as the weeds along the water at sunset, and combined all of the elements. “Everything is lit the same,” Miller said, “so when you put it all together it looks like it belongs together.”

Miller started painting the mural in November, just after his art show at the museum, and generally spends three days a week working on it. On the other side of the corner, duck decoys from the collection of another local duck hunter, Ben Sohm, will be placed. The Seaford Skiff, a small boat built in 1910 by Charles Verity in Freeport, and owned by Frank Roach, of Seaford, will be placed in front of the mural to give the whole package a diorama effect.

The boat was made with wood from Long Island and painted dark brown, and is on permanent loan to the museum by the Roach family.

In exchange for creating the mural, the Seaford Historical Society is allowing Miller to use the museum to teach painting classes. Miller’s 10-week series begins on Jan. 18. He will be offering sessions on Monday and Wednesday nights.

Miller, an art professor at Farmingdale State College, will teach traditional realism to anyone looking to advance their artistic talents. Each class will be three hours and the cost is $500 for the series.