BY LINDA DeNICOLA
Staff Writer
ASBURY PARK — Two muralists who share a vision of people coming to Asbury Park to view murals in the city are off to a good start.
Their idea for an Asbury Park Mural Arts Project is now an element of the newly formed Arts Coalition of Asbury Park, whose mission is to bring the community and art together.
Dawn von Suskil and Danielle Acerra-Ball are mural painters whose business is known as The Muralists Painting Studio.
Together they have won commissions to paint murals at many local sites including the Super Foodtown in Ocean Township, the Ronald McDonald House in Long Branch, the Off Broadway Jazz & Blues Club in Long Branch, Giamano’s restaurant in Bradley Beach, and Bistro Olé in Asbury Park.
Now the muralists have become philanthropists.
“The AP Mural Arts Project is our contribution to the revitalization of Asbury Park, Monmouth County muralists and the community,” Acerra-Ball said.
Last week, they began their first local project with the Boys and Girls Club of America in Asbury Park whereby children from grammar school age through high school will collaborate with Charles Trott, one of the project’s muralists.
“They will work together on a community mural,” von Suskil explained.
“The kids at the Boys and Girls Club are so excited,” Acerra-Ball added.
Von Suskil explained that the project has two goals, one is to promote Monmouth County muralists and the other is to take advantage of and highlight the diversity, culture and history of Asbury Park.
“Asbury Park is so rich in those three elements,” said Terri Thomas, an Asbury Park arts advocate, and the new arts education director for the Monmouth County Arts Council (MCAC), who is working with the muralists.
She added that they are seeking Monmouth County muralists and organizations in Asbury Park that want to work with them and take part in the revitalization.
“We will work with the city, but the Mural Arts Project is an artist-driven project, a way to give back,” von Suskil said.
The Arts Coalition of Asbury Park (ACAP) is a newly formed, nonprofit collaboration with MCAC, the Black Box of Asbury Park and the Asbury Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) to develop an arts plan and an arts district for the city.
Thomas, who is also involved with the Arts Coalition, explained ACAP’s mission, which is to create a sustainable network and resource for artists, artisans and community organizations, as well as to promote arts education and multicultural arts programming to enhance the quality of life of its partners and the community while preserving the integrity of artistic, architectural, historic and cultural heritage.
Thomas explained how both projects came about. “Last March, the Black Box hosted a meeting with the MCAC in order to discuss the arts coalition and mural project.
“They were so impressed with the caliber, diversity and number of people that showed up, that the Asbury Park Mural Arts Project was formed. MCAC is seeking funding through the state,” she said.
But the coalition is also seeking outside funding. Everyone who contributes, can have their names put on a mural. They are also bringing the arts and business communities together, she said.
Another event sponsored by the arts coalition is an art exhibition and reception held on the first Saturday of every month hosted by Genesis Realty on Cookman Avenue.
For the event, the real estate office is transformed into a gallery.
“We held the first one last month. Twenty percent of sales go to the arts coalition,” von Suskil said.
Thomas added that the first event held last month was very successful. There were thousands of people in town.
She said they want to see the city grow wisely with a quality of life for all. The plan is to incorporate the west side where the bulk of redevelopment is not happening.
“We want to reach deeper into the community. A vibrant, diverse culture lives here,” she said.
Von Suskil and Acerra-Ball had been wanting to start a mural project for three years. While researching, they discovered the Philadelphia Mural Project.
“Their mural project is very large. We had to scale ours down. We have five or six artists now, but we are still growing.”
The artists don’t necessarily live in Asbury Park. Von Suskil lives in Bradley Beach, Acerra-Ball lives in Ocean Grove as does Bob Mataranglo, and Desmond Kovic lives in Monmouth Beach.
Trott is an Asbury Park resident and von Suskil is a part owner in Be Green, an organic juice bar and cafe on Cookman Avenue.
“As artists, our biggest goal is to stabilize the arts in Asbury Park so that they are not gentrified out with redevelopment. We want to bridge all of those social layers, one person at a time, one project at a time,” von Suskil said.
Volunteers for the project and members of the arts coalition are professionals from various fields, said the muralists, who have been painting together for four years.
They talked about the murals they have created, especially the one on the former jazz club at Broadway and 4th Street in Long Branch, which, they said, was created with input from the community.
They explained that although the jazz club is closed, the mural has never been defaced.
Thomas explained that it is important to incorporate what is indigenous in the community. “You have to present ownership,” she said.
“The owner of the jazz club went up and down the street asking people what they thought of our sketch before we began the mural,” von Suskil said.

