Local artist auctions mural for Hurricane Sandy victims

Last Updated on Thursday, December 20, 2012 01:13 pm Written by Lauren Suit Wednesday, December 19, 2012 03:31 pm

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Macomber paints Mural WILDWOOD — In the months after Hurricane Sandy, many in Cape May County are still doing what they can to help neighboring shore community rebuild their lives.

For David Macomber, a 32-year-old artist from Cape May, his contribution for hurricane victims is through art.

On Dec. 13, Macomber created an 8-by 20-foot mixed media style mural that he hopes will inspire others to help in the recovery process.

“After the hurricane everyone was trying to figure out what they can do. People were trying to use their abilities to try and help,” Macomber said. “I’m an artist so what I can do to help is art.”

The finished product will be cut into about 30 pieces, framed and signed and auctioned to benefit Waves for Water. Macomber said 100 percent of the money will go to the organization, a group that was started by surfers that normally focus on providing clean water in impoverished areas. In providing relief from the super storm, the organization is helping with initial survival needs on many levels from first responder assistance to rubble removal and ultimately the rebuilding efforts.

Macomber is calling the mural “Strength & Unity.” The inspiration, he said, came from the communities that have banded together despite the destruction of homes and businesses.

Macomber, who by trade is a graphic designer and has been working as a professional artist for two years, had done work for Morey’s Piers before and had installed a mural on Adventure’s Piers shipping containers this past summer.

Macomber said that once he decided on the concept, he sketched plans for the design on graph paper.

Then he made prints from 29 photos he took of the shore and glued them to a large piece of plywood that was set up on an unused area in Morey’s Adventure Pier.

As Macomber added layers of bright blue, orange and yellow paint, he said that the ocean and the amusement pier was a prefect backdrop to the piece.
“I wanted to be out here creating this with the ocean in the background and the pier and amusement rides nearby,” he said. “Those elements are such an important part of the shore.”

A phone call to Jack Morey later and Macomber was cleared to set up next to the wooden roller coaster, The Great White.

On top of the photos, Macomber painted a portion from Bruce Springsteen’s 2008 induction speech into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

Under layers of paint, the mural reads “Rise up my fellow New Jerseyans, for we are all members of a confused but noble race. We, of the state that will never get any respect. We, who bear the coolness of the forever uncool. The chip on our shoulders of those with forever something to prove. And even with this wonderful Hall of Fame, we know that there’s another bad Jersey joke coming just around the corner.”

Macomber finished the mural in about 10 hours.

“One mural isn’t going to solve everything. But it can help,” he said. For more information about how to buy a piece of this art see

www.moreyspiers.com .

Sandy sketch