Theresa “Tess” Parker recalled the moment she watched a little girl stop to admire the new mural above the entrance to the Seaford Public Library and tell her mother she wanted to become an artist.
For Parker, the muralist who created the work, the moment captured what she hoped her art would accomplish, inspiring wonder, sparking curiosity and transporting those who see it somewhere beyond their everyday surroundings.
The roughly 30-foot-tall mural, titled “Bound Together,” transforms the library's exterior clock tower into an underwater world, where two seahorses read together among books, aquatic plants and rocks. Painted across three walls, layers of teal water, bubbles and light create the illusion of looking up from beneath the surface.
Parker completed the mural early this month, as part of the Patchogue Arts Council's Cultivating Havens for the Arts through Regional Murals initiative, known as CHARM, funded by the New York State Council on the Arts with support from Gov. Kathy Hochul's office.
“My intention as the artist is to transport the viewer the same way a really good book would,” Parker said. “They [take] the whole human mind of the viewer and just kind of transport them somewhere.”
For the library, the project offered an opportunity to make a familiar community institution more distinctive while celebrating the town's connection to the South Shore. Its director, Frank McKenna, said the project began in July, after Danielle Paisley, the director of the Patchogue-Medford Library, approached him about finding a Nassau County library interested in hosting a mural. McKenna connected with Beth Giacummo, executive director of the Patchogue Arts Council, which helped coordinate the project.
The library wanted a South Shore theme incorporating the library’s seahorse logo and the importance of books and reading. The clock tower, with its three exposed walls, provided a natural canvas for the wraparound design.
The arts council solicited portfolios from regional muralists, narrowed the candidates to two finalists and selected Parker in early August.
“It's a beautifully painted mural,” McKenna said. “It's a welcoming, relaxing, peaceful work of art.”
Parker, a full-time artist whose work includes murals across Long Island and beyond, said she knew the design needed to extend around all three walls rather than appear on the front alone. She also had to account for existing features, including the clock, windows, lettering and a plaque.
The seahorses became the centerpiece for a more personal reason. Parker said she was drawn to the animal’s strong bonds and its behavior of holding tails and performing courtship rituals. That inspired her to create a pair rather than a single seahorse, with the two holding tails as they read.
The books along the sea floor connect the imagery to the library, with bright orange lettering and the book designs contrasting with the surrounding blue-green water.
The mural's perspective is designed to reward a closer look. Parker positioned the waterline at the point where the tower rises above the rest of the building, making the upper portion appear to represent the view from underwater toward the sky. The work is intended to seem less like a picture on a wall and more like an environment visitors can imagine entering.
“Wonder” was a word McKenna said came to mind when describing the mural's effect on visitors. He recalled hearing children exclaim as they passed Parker at work.
As a child growing up on Long Island, Parker said, she rarely saw murals like this one. Encountering public art earlier in life, she said — like the girl who told her mother that she wanted to be an artist — might have encouraged her to pursue her career sooner.
Parker initially worked as a creative arts therapist in psychiatric hospitals. Her transition to mural painting began when a hospital hired her to create decorative artwork for a fundraising gala. She approached its chief executive about funding murals, built a portfolio and eventually left her job to paint full-time.
Today, she sees public art as an opportunity to reach people who might not otherwise visit a gallery. “It's different because it's free,” Parker said.
She used aerosol paint exclusively for the Seaford mural, first priming the walls and then creating a “doodle grid” in order to expand the composition across the large, connected surfaces. Beneath the finished imagery, she incorporated words and names connected to the project and people in her life, leaving a hidden record of the experience.
Parker’s biggest challenge wasn't the building's architecture, but rather working above a busy road on a boom lift, where she had to remain mindful of passing traffic.
For McKenna, the finished mural also serves a practical purpose. The library, housed in a building that can be difficult for passersby to recognize, now has a colorful landmark visible from Jackson Avenue and the surrounding Verity Plaza. “It helps put us more on the map,” McKenna said, adding that the artwork enhances the library's profile and makes the surrounding area more vibrant.
Ultimately, Parker hopes the mural encourages visitors to look beyond its bright colors and familiar seahorse imagery. Reading, she said, can help people imagine other lives, develop empathy and feel less alone. She hopes her work inspires a similar openness.
“If we get rid of curiosity, then we lose learning,” she said.
The library is at 2234 Jackson Ave. in Seaford.
