In Burlington, Volunteers Counter Vandalism Before a New Mural’s Completion

Watching paint dry has never been so dramatic. Over the weekend, artist Clark Derbes and more than 90 volunteers painted “Building Blocks,” a bold new mural of blue cubes and lime-green stripes at 266 Main Street in Burlington, on the corner of South Union Street. On Saturday, they made good progress on the project’s first coat. By Sunday morning, the mural was vandalized with graffiti.

Before the weekend, the building — which is owned by Fidium (formerly Consolidated Communications) and counts Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies among its tenants — had seen better days. Its large, blank expanses of brick have long been a canvas for graffiti, giving the impression that the building is as vacant as its neighbor, Memorial Auditorium.

“Everyone’s seen that building go downhill for a while,” said Jill Badolato of Mission Murals, who is leading the project. Parents from Edmunds Elementary School, concerned that their kids’ playground across Main Street looks out on this grim façade, approached her and asked what they could do. Badolato’s response: “All right, let’s dust off Mission Murals and make it happen.”

Badolato formed Mission Murals in 2020 to facilitate and raise money for murals through a partner nonprofit, which can receive tax-deductible donations. Mission’s first project, a mural at the food shelf now called Feeding Champlain Valley, raised about $22,000, which covered costs and supported the food shelf’s operations.

Even before 2020, Badolato was known as an instigator of murals — her forte is finding artists, coordinating with property owners and community members, and organizing volunteers. From the silos at Dealer.com on Pine Street to the Outdoor Gear Exchange mural on Cherry Street, she’s had a hand in much of Burlington’s public art.

For “Building Blocks,” Mission Murals partnered with the Edmunds Elementary Parent Teacher Organization. By the time volunteers started on Saturday, they had raised about $7,200 of the original $10,000 goal for the project. They are hoping to surpass that goal, having spent thousands more on paint following the weekend’s vandalism.

Raising the money has been an impressive feat, especially considering the timeline: The project has come together only in the past month, and a contract with the building owner was finalized just two weeks ago. “I get excited to make it happen,” Badolato said. “This one’s at Mach speed, but I think it’s really important.”

Badolato approached Derbes, whose recognizable geometric, op-arty style has been seen around town on murals at the former Moran Plant, next to Curtis Lumber and on parked tractor trailers in the South End. Derbes has recently started working as an educator with ReSOURCE’s YouthBuild program, which teaches job skills to 16- to 24-year-olds. Some of them are helping with the mural, both in its creation and ongoing maintenance.

Derbes’ design features horizontal and vertical stripes along the building’s south side, as well as cubes that seem to float off existing windows and the spare, rectangular façade’s details. It’s simpler than some of his past compositions, but at 3,461 square feet — 15 feet high — it’s striking. He and artist Daniel Cardon will complete the project’s upper reaches this week using scaffolding.

“There were a lot of factors to consider,” Derbes said. One was creating “a simple enough design that a lot of people could work on it together and have it be a fluid experience.” Ease of restoration following damage was another.

Organizers anticipated that the painting might be tagged, though no one expected it to happen within hours. But on Sunday, another 60 volunteers — including the mayor’s chief of staff, Erin Jacobsen, and about half the members of the city council — came out and painted over the damage. (Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak helped paint on Saturday.)

Badolato said on Sunday that while the vandalism was deeply disappointing, she was heartened by the show of unity from undeterred volunteers. While the tagger is likely one individual, Badolato said it’s clear to her that many people are passionate about combating vandalism and putting their energies toward something positive: “They all just channeled the love and showed up.”

“Building Blocks” by Clark Derbes is at 266 Main St. in Burlington. missionmurals.org

This article appears in Oct 1-7 2025.

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