Lee — The town is looking a bit more colorful these days after artist Cheyenne Renee added a mural to Main Street. The Covington, Va. native founded the 50in50 Project in the fall of 2021, with her goal being to paint one mural in a small town within each state by the end of 2025.
Renee’s trek began in June of 2022, and Lee marked her 11th stop in the project, with Morristown, Vt. next. The event was celebrated with a July 19 outdoor ceremony followed by a reception at Appetito .
“Lee was the chosen town for representing the state of Massachusetts as the gateway to the Berkshires,” said Lee Chamber of Commerce President Doug Bagnasco. With her passion for small town tourism, Renee said the program serves to highlight unique small communities and businesses across the country “that deserve more recognition.” Lee was nominated to serve as Massachusetts’ entry on Renee’s website by an individual who had visited October Mountain State Forest, followed by lunch in town, she said.
“It was memorable enough for them to think that it would make a really good small town for the project,” Renee said. Although she reached out to a few different locations in Massachusetts for the mural, Lee was the only town that responded and was motivated to feature the project. Renee began painting at 12 years old, with family members pushing her to pursue art “to make a little extra money on the side.
” Now, at the ripe old age of 24, art is her career after painting her first mural at age 18. The Chamber of Commerce developed a list of possible local items representative of the community that Renee could showcase in the mural, including Eagle Mill, the Housatonic River, and High Lawn Farm, with a cow prominently displayed as homage to the latter’s agricultural business. “We’re really excited to have our cow there,” praised High Lawn Farm Marketing and Administrative Assistant Isabel Crawford, who eyed the Jersey for the first time at the ceremony.
The local lampposts and flower baskets on Main Street also made it into the artwork Renee completed in only three days. “We’re just big fans of art here in Lee and we’re just happy to be able to bring Cheyenne’s art to the town and her project,” said the Chamber’s Executive Director Kathy DeVarennes. “I just think it’s going to be really cool that people come through town trying to follow her projects from state to state and take their picture with the mural and share it on social media.
I think it brings a lot to Lee.” Prominently displayed on Main Street’s Berkshire Housing building, Town Administrator Christopher Brittain was also instrumental in getting the project off the ground, corresponding with Renee for the lone Commonwealth project site. “We are really honored to have your mural in the town of Lee representing the mural for Massachusetts,” Brittain said to Renee.
“I think you did just a wonderful job of capturing different parts of the town of Lee.” Select Board member Robert “Bob” Jones commented that the work “really captures the essence of Lee and the Berkshires.” “If that’s not the Berkshire Hills, I don’t know what is,” he said.
Lee residents stopped to gawk at the new Main Street feature. For Jill Topham, the artist’s inclusion of Eagle Mill paid homage to the town’s “history of paper mills.” “I’m delighted that she chose Lee out of the whole state,” she said.
Clay Squire eyed the artwork as he walked down the street to pick up his mail. “Wow, that’s new,” he said. “It’s quite beautiful.
It’s got the [First] Congregational Church spire and the Eagle Mill. We’re hoping that all that blue [Housatonic River] is PCB-free.”.
