Hamilton: Save the Painting

Pictured is “An Apparition,” a 1963 piece by Lee Brown Coye.

By Maria Parenti

Sometimes waiting in line at the post office can create more stress than any of us need; however, at the Hamilton Post Office, there is a mural above the brass mailboxes that triggers an impulse to reflect.

The mural is four-by-24 feet and was commissioned by the old Doanne’s Grill House about 1941. It depicts the history of Hamilton in three sections, with vignettes of local agriculture, the Loomis gang, and historical buildings. A work of artist Lee Brown Coye.

At one time, Coye was a local resident of Central New York and was best known nationally as an illustrator. The mural has hung in the post office since 1996 as a loan to the Village of Hamilton and now the current owner wants to sell it. It has been appraised at $70,000.

The Coye belongs to Chenango Properties, LLC, and the principles would like it to sell it to Hamilton for $35,000 and donate the remaining $35,000 to Colgate University in the memory of John Cheshire, a 1972 Colgate alum.

Cheshire was the brother of Dick Cheshire, a longtime resident of Hamilton, who was a classmate of James Metz of Chenango Properties.

The mural has been on loan to the Village of Hamilton with the agreement that the village would incur the insurance. The village has also acquired expenses for cleaning and some repairs to the painting. This agreement has been satisfactory to all parties.

At the announcement that Chenango Properties desired to sell the mural, a group of interested Hamilton residents formed a steering committee to “save the painting” and initiated a campaign to raise the $35,000 to purchase it. Once the funds are available, they plan to gift the mural to the village, along with additional funds to support the care and insurance of the piece.

Resident artist Denise Leone has taken on the chair position of that committee.

Leone said, “The painting is about the history of Hamilton and it should stay in Hamilton,” Leone said. “It would be a terrible loss if we should lose it.”

Leone added that the deadline for raising the funds is Jan. 31, and the committee is encouraged by the response so far. To benefit the fund, plans are underway to auction off a total of 23 pieces by Coye. The auction is planned for Thursday, Dec. 3, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the historic Colgate Inn in Hamilton. The event follows the Inn’s annual holiday celebration.

Refreshments will be available.

A preview of the donated artwork will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. the same day. The Coye artwork is being donated by the Estate of Lee Brown Coye.

“The committee deeply appreciates the generosity of Director Scott Habes, Pickard Art Museum, and that of JoAnn Borflitz, Colgate University, for all their assistance,” Leone said.

“With the short lead time presented to us, [committee members] are heartened by the momentum the campaign has appreciated so far,” said committee member Hugh Humphreys. “We look forward to the upcoming auction. There are so many people who have stepped forward to help in the effort.”

For more information feel free to contact Leone at 824-1751, or Humphreys at 824-3618

To make a donation to the “Save the Painting” effort, please mail it to the Village of Hamilton, P.O. Box 119 issued to the Village of Hamilton, noting “For Coye Mural.”

Hamilton: Save the Painting

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