The Mural Mania Artists
Bev Owen, Cory Reynolds, Christina Lauber, and Mark De Cracker
Mural Mania has had many artists throughout it’s more than fifteen years. We started out as volunteers in 2007 painting on Winston’s Dream and many professional artists have been hired to paint murals along the Mural Mania trail. Recently the four of us have banded together to paint murals in the Wayne County area. Presently we are working on a mural for Red Creek and Wolcott and will be starting the Bicentennial soon.
Mark De Cracker
Mark De Cracker Profile Attended FLCC, MCC and Arizona State University Graduated with a degree in Outdoor Recreation in 1977. Worked as a Recreation Leader at Alex Eligh Community 1977-79, Finger Lakes DDSO 1979-2010 as a Sr. Recreation Therapist. Retired in 2010. Started a video business, Past and Present Personal Videos 1988 to present. Along with my wife opened the Peppermint Cottage B&B in 1997. In addition to working I founded E.R.I.E, Erie’s Restoration Interests Everyone (The revitalization and restoration of the Erie Canal) in 1988. President of the Lyons Chamber of Commerce from 2006-2010. In 2007 along with the late Noel Dobbins, founded Mural Mania (The Preservation of History through Community Art.) As a result of the success of Mural Mania, we now have the longest mural trail in the world along the Erie Canal. This success led to Mural Mania being selected to host the 2016 Global Mural Conference in Fairport, N.Y. This summer, working with James Zeger and students from Newark, we completed the latest mural, the “Rose Garden” in Newark. In 2010 Mural Mania received the Erie Canalway Award of Excellences Honorable Mention for Mural Mania. Founder of Forever Wild for Everyone (accessibility trails into nature) in 2011. One of these trails the Trail of Hope in Lyons received the “Outside the Box” award from Parks and Trails of New York and Erie Canalway Award of Excellences Honorable Mention. In April of 2019, I received the Citizen of the Year award for the Trail of Hope and Mural Mania. Currently I am V.P. the Urger/Southern Railroad mural in Newark. Over the past year we completed the Dipper Dredge and Lock 56 mural in Lyons. Presently I am working with our Mural Mania team on a mural for Red Creek, and Wolcott. I have also been a consultant for Erie Canal communities who are painting murals over the past 15 years.
Contact information
e-mail videomark@gmail.com
cell phone 3155738170
Bev Owen
Mural Mania on and off since 2010.
we as a team have completed murals for Butler, Sodus,
and currently working on Red Creek,and Sodus NY.
There are 3 of us who presently have health issues.
I personally was diagnosed with Chronic Maeloid Leukemia in December.
I could succumb to losing energy, filling myself with Chemo, and giving up
on the most enjoyable occupation of art expression, but that is not me.
I have chosen an alternative route of Integrative medicine, and a combination of meditative
and mind thought practices.
Working with my private commissions and with Mural Mania gives me pleasure,
and really has become a part of my meditative practice.
Some say I am sick or ill… I say I am a Wounded Painter! I can still paint!
I have missions!
1st, is painting for as long as possible,
2nd, is to rise above this diagnosis
and heal from it!
3rd, to bring joy to others through murals etc.
When you see me taking a short break to regroup from time to time,
that is my way of restoring my energy. Don’t feel sorry for me,
instead give me positive thoughts and prayers! I am not a quitter, don’t you be either!
I say to all of you out there, live your life, don’t waste it in worry of what might be,
use every last moment of your life LIVING! Not dieing.
I choose to live painting, and lifting others up. Peace My Friends, Reverend Beverly Owen
Christina Lauber
I began making art as a young child. I loved painting, drawing and crafting. This took off when I got to middle school and had a wonderful art teacher. I began to realize I had some talent.
By the time I got to high school, art was my main focus and I had more incredible teachers that encouraged my talents and growth. Art was something I continued outside of the classroom, at home. I was a defiant and troubled teenager but used art as my means of expression and coping. I’d frequently draw in my room, which was covered in artwork; both my own and prints of famous artists.
I chose to major in art as a college student. I earned my Associates Degree at Monroe Community College, and later my bachelor’s from SUNY Brockport. I worked at numerous jobs for the next decade and did not create much art. I began to paint again 5-6 years ago, after a series of miscarriages and a failed marriage. I met Cory, my teammate, in the summer of 2021 at an art show that we were both participating in. He told me that he was part of the team that created the incredible murals around Wayne County, and asked if I was interested. Within a couple days, Mark De Cracker reached out to me, and I began painting with them on the E-56 mural. I’ve been painting with them since on each mural as well as working independently again and taking commissions.
In July of 2022, I was diagnosed with a recurrence of aggressive uterine cancer, which is now metastatic. It has been a fight that’s difficult in every way possible and is far from over. Creating art with my team is not only a positive outlet, but a reminder that I have too much art left to create, to not survive.
Cory Reynolds
The Beginning
I started art when I was first able to pick up a pencil and use fine motor skills at a very young age. I was very shy and not so outspoken so I expressed myself through art and drawing. People began taking notice of how far ahead I was with artwork. Teachers got me involved with art contests through the “D.A.R.E. program” which still exists to teach children from kindergarten through 12th grade how to resist peer pressure and live productive drug and violence-free lives.
I won contest after contest. I was awarded with prizes but one prize stood out from the rest…a MOUNTAIN BIKE! From that point on, I had an understanding that being an artist was something great. Fast forward…
The High School Years
I did not do well in high school. I hated getting up in the mornings. I often showed up late and it had a drastic effect on my grades. I began hanging out with the wrong crowd after I lost hope in recovering good grades. I skipped school a lot. I delivered newspapers weekly and also worked at McDonalds part-time. After all of the terrible jobs I held, I began to realize how important education was. This epiphany led me to get my G.E.D. and join the Army.
The Army
The Army turned my life around in good ways and bad. They really cleaned up my act and straightened me out. They taught me fundamentals of life that I can use anywhere and in any situation. Unfortunately, I went to war and returned with the sacrifice of 7 comrades. This loss has been a constant struggle for my mental health. For over twenty years, I have battled with PTSD and still do. I have been to counseling, group therapies and even take medications. I am no longer in the military and I have been out for quite some time. I have held several jobs, have married and since built a family.
Mural Mania
I am not sure when I met Mark DeCracker in my life’s journey or when I joined the Mural Mania crew. We crossed paths one day, by happenstance, and he asked if I painted. Mark is an artist and director of Mural Mania. He has learned of my artistry through word-of-mouth and social media. At the time, I was not a painter but had dabbled in other forms of art. I told him that I would try my hand at painting. Since then, I have used painting as an outlet for soothing PTSD. I have been doing this for many years now and hopefully many more to come.
The Conclusion
I can honestly say that when your mind is jumbled with nothing but sorrows and hurt, painting murals puts all of that away. You get lost in the smallest details of your canvas.