Bethlehem-based mural artist Matt Halm, with the assistance of nine art camp students, has worked on the second of a pair of murals along the walls of the passenger access tunnel connecting the parking lot to the terminal’s lower level at Lehigh Valley International Airport (LVIA), Hanover Township.

Students and their families enjoyed the opportunity to participate in a one-day event Aug. 16 as part of the week-long “Public Art Intensive” session in the Banana Factory summer camp program for youths ages 10 - 12.

ArtsQuest’s Arts in Education partnered with Lehigh Valley International Airport through the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts for a pair of community murals. The first, on the opposite wall, was painted in fall 2023.

The walls are a collage of images pertainiing to the history of the facility, from when it began in 1927 as an emergency landing air strip for airmail pilots through present day.

Halm outlined the areas where his young “helping hands” applied paint. Numbered grids showed them where to fill in with a specific color with the number on the wall matching the number on an acrylic paint can.

“It’s kind of like Paint By Number,” says Halm. “We want to make sure that it’s a process that’s not excluding anyone based on their experience level. You don’t have to be super-experienced using a paintbrush or working on this scale.”

Once the students have blocked in all the color, Halm will handle the more detailed work, like the portrait of Wilfred M. “Wiley” Post, Jr., LVIA manager from 1937 to 1983.

For safety reasons, Halm’s rendering the upper portions of the artwork, as well. “We don’t want the students up on the ladder,” he says.

A protective clear seal coat is to be applied when the painting is completed.

“This is my first time doing this,” says Jesiah Gonzalez of working on such a large-scale project. The 17-year-old Bethlehem resident attends Liberty High School and enjoys drawing, painting and designing cartoon characters.

Halm, a 1998 graduate of William Allen High, received an B.F.A. as an illustration major from Syracuse University in 2002.

“Gallery View” is a column about artists, exhibitions and galleries. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com