Arlene McLoughlin paints murals with a message

Arlene McLoughlin enjoys the natural beauty of Massapequa Preserve’s stream, its bridge and dappled shadows. But she had something to add. So, amid the quiet earth tones, she planted beauty of another kind: brilliantly colored murals on a railroad underpass.

The signed paintings in the preserve feature slogans such as “Be Kind,” offering an uplifting message in addition to her stunning visuals.

“As a person who has run several marathons, I thought it was a good idea, when you go into the park, to have inspirational words,” she said. “A lot of times when you’re running, you feel like giving up. I thought motivational slogans would be something nice.”

She first donated paintings on plywood in the preserve seven years ago and has since replaced any that were broken or vandalized. After someone defaced a stone with antisemitic graffiti, she painted it green, with a picture of an owl.

McLoughlin, of Massapequa, is a muralist with a message and a mission, spreading art beyond museum and gallery walls, and bringing it to schools, playgrounds, restaurants and homes. She has painted hundreds of murals, beautifying spaces across Long Island, the tristate area and beyond.

“Arlene’s murals brighten up our building,” said Leeann Graziose, principal at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Regional School in Bellmore. “It’s great to watch her work and even better to have her work live on in the school every day.”

She donated the preserve murals, though the school murals are paid jobs. Her usual work at homes and restaurants is performed on commission, although she declined to discuss her rates.

PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST

McLoughlin, 57, was born and raised in Elmont, the oldest of five children. She attended Elmont Memorial High School, where she created her first mural in 1984. McLoughlin received an associate degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1987 and then worked as a fashion illustrator in Manhattan, but continued her education in murals and faux painting around the country.

She began creating murals in children’s rooms and nurseries across Long Island, launching her own mural business in 1994, doing work for residents, then restaurants, schools and other businesses. “It branched off,” she said. “I travel all over.”

McLoughlin has painted murals from Florida to Massachusetts and across Long Island. “I think I love them all,” she said. “It’s very hard for me to say which ones are my favorites.”

For open-air works, she uses Benjamin Moore exterior paint, which she says is UV-protected, bright and lasts on concrete, stucco and brick; inside she uses latex paint. “I don’t really think I have a style,” she said. “I adapt to what my clients are looking for.”

She recently designed a mural with a tree, rainbow and characters from children’s books for a kids’ reading nook.

“Right now, the trends are all over the place,” she said. “You can go from traditional for kids’ rooms, characters and color, to classic wallpaper designs that people want me to imitate.”

McLoughlin painted murals in her own children’s rooms, where the artworks remain even though the kids have grown up and moved out. She has been married for 31 years to her husband, Dale, a firefighter with the New York Fire Department.

Her daughter, Niamh, 27, owns Artistry Dance Complex, a dance studio in Massapequa. Her son, Odinn, 24, is studying for a master’s degree in communications at the University at Buffalo.

THE ART OF THE MEAL

McLoughlin sees her artwork as an attraction for restaurants who want to create atmosphere. “It draws people in,” she said. “A lot of the success of restaurants is due to the interior. People are drawn to custom artwork.”

Eddie Fahmy, CEO of Manhasset-based A2Z Restaurant Consulting, said McLoughlin is one of the few painters he works with. He noted she did a Frida Kahlo mural customers see when they walk into Cenote, a Mexican restaurant in Sayville.

“She created an agave [plant] template and stamped the whole wall with agave,” Fahmy said. “It looked like wallpaper, but it wasn’t.”

She did murals at Dirty Taco in Rockville Centre, Wantagh and Woodbury that feature the restaurants’ slogan “Live clean, eat dirty” along with other text. McLoughlin incorporated Mexican themes at Fat Boy’s Burrito Co., in both Patchogue and Merrick. And at Dulce, a Massapequa Park ice cream parlor, she painted a mural showing Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Elvis Presley.

ART SCHOOL

McLoughlin also has worked her magic on murals in the Oceanside and Merrick school districts, she said, “to beautify and enhance inside and outside.”

Her mural in Merrick’s Birch School cafeteria has the words, “You are loved,” articulating a message reinforced by the art. Text on a school mural at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton says “Be the light” with the words, “This is tough, but so are you” and “You got this.”

Her playground murals include hopscotch squares, coin tosses, obstacle courses, tic-tac-toe boards and kickball along with murals to beautify hallways, often with motivational messages.

At St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, students see colorful scenes throughout the decades-old building. “When you walk around my building, it’s alive with color,” Graziose said. “It lets the children walk around and see brightness, color and messages.”

Over the years, McLoughlin’s work has spread through much of the school, helping spur student creativity and learning. “Every floor you go on there’s something painted,” Graziose said. “She painted the steps blue and put the times table on the steps.”

She transformed the stark concrete walls outside the cafeteria windows into an ocean scene. “When you’re in the basement, it looks like you’re under water,” Graziose said.

When workers installing new water fountains left walls in need of work, Graziose had McLoughlin paint mini murals next to every fountain, showing blue waves and other scenes along with “words of kindness.”

A BIGGER MENU

Clients sometimes hire her to create “Instagram walls,” designed to encourage customers to photograph themselves and post on social media.

McLoughlin painted a huge butterfly at Craft Tacos and Tequila in Mohegan Lake, Westchester County, butterfly wings at Broadway Gourmet in North Massapequa and two forks shaped into angel wings at the Twisted Fork Brunch Company in Bellmore.

“They’re interactive, so people can take pictures, post them and tag the business,” she said.

McLoughlin also has done murals for nonfood businesses, such as Pure Laser Skin Care in Albertson, bringing glamor to the 1,200- square-foot space with an image of a woman with red lips, red glitter and flowers in her hair.

“She created a gorgeous stencil along the hallway. And each room has its own character,” Fahmy said. “One has stucco finish and one has faux gold finish.”

In addition to her murals, McLoughlin has had exhibits across the United States, and participated in The Salon, a gathering of international decorative painters, exhibiting her work in France, Italy, Japan, Norway and Holland. She will exhibit in Denmark in May. But her largest gallery could be considered all the public spaces across Long Island where McLoughlin art is displayed.

“A picture’s worth a thousand words,” Graziose said. “And all of Arlene’s works spread messages of hope, love and inspiration.”