Belmar Turns Ugly Barriers Into Art

No one wishes that Ocean Avenue and several other streets in Belmar had to be closed since Sandy, but who would have thought that cold, gray concrete could be made so pretty?

The Belmar Arts Council decided to turn lemons into lemonade and came up with a plan to have local artists paint the barriers to transform a reminder of the devastation into a piece of beauty and hope.

Now more than a dozen barriers have beautiful scenes that'll at least allow you to see some beauty in the face of disaster.

Images of the final barrier art pieces are posted on the Belmar Arts Council site. One of my favorites is the piano keyboard painting!

Donations of 20 gallons of blue paint for the undercoat, as well as several dozen brushes, were made by Belmar Paint & Decorating.

(Manasquan-Belmar Patch, Catherine Galioto)