Artist helps visitors brush up on history

Despite the cold, dreary weather Thursday afternoon, about a half-dozen people turned out to tour the downtown mural on West Fourth Street, guided by mural artist Michael Pilato.

Pilato explained to tourists the many nuances in his work of people and places representing the history of the Williamsport community.

"The main goal is to get children to see there's greatness around them," Pilato said. "This mural could be a million feet high and still not have everything in it."

"It's really engaging," said Sue Forester of Muncy as she perused the colorful walls around her.

"It's come a long way," Gary Carson of Williamsport said.

The mural was started in 2005, and while it may look completed in the near future, it will "never be completely finished" because it is "a living piece of art," according to Pilato.

Pilato provided commentary on the local philanthropists, historical and religious figures, teachers and honorary youth who have made an impression on the community over the years.

His storytelling was interwoven with humor, noting certain mishaps with painting and jokes shared with those whose images are immortalized on the panels.

At one point while painting, the cord from Pilato's lift freed one of Woodland Bank's parking signs, causing it to smash into the portrait of Tony Brown.

Brown, who lives in one of the apartments over the parking lot, witnessed the accident, and jokingly screamed "Ow!" from his window.

The artist pays particularly close attention to intricate detail. Nearly every image carries some deeper level of meaning engrained into it. The underlying detail helps to elaborate more on the subject's character or connection to the community on a broader scale, symbolically or linguistically.

Rev. John Manno's motorcycle, for example, has the Stations of the Cross painted onto the wheel guard.

Dust from the site where the World Trade Center's "Twin Towers" stood is mixed into the paint used in the "Sept. 11th Vigil Piece." A small cross, made from a piece of rusted steel from one of the towers, is implanted into the painting, too.

Other pieces communicate with one another, like local Underground Railroad expert Mamie Sweeting Diggs' portrait waving to the late local Underground Railroad conductor Daniel Hughes. Pilato's niece poses as a slave girl across the parking lot.

Tourists said they found both the visual stories represented in the mural, as well as Pilato's own guided commentary, wonderful and amazing.

"He's a great storyteller," Mary Crouse of Williamsport said.

Although much still is undone or unfinished with the mural, including a book and video tour, the artwork continues to draw people downtown to witness the artistic representation of local history.

Pilato said he loves stories and, with so much history and local legends in the community, the intricacies he weaves into his paintings come naturally to him.

"It just comes to me," Pilato said. "It's a gift. I'm so happy to come here and paint this mural."