Tomie DePaola Mural

If you love children's books, you have most likely come across some of Tomie DePaola's books in your reading. The prolific writer/illustrator (having published over 200 books) may be best known for his Strega Nona series and his moon faced, folk-art characters.  My family saw a documentary on him last year when we visited the Eric Carle Museum.

In addition to illustrating children's books,  he has also done a series of murals for New England monasteries and churches. As it turns out, one of those murals can be found right here in the Capital District.

Don't ask me how I came upon this website, but they mentioned that one of DePaola's murals was in their chapel. According to their website the mural was commissioned by the Domincan Sisters Congregation and was first his first major work.

Being a fan of his, I headed over to check it out. It wasn't easy. The chapel itself was closed, but after walking around the grounds, trying different doors, a member of the cleaning crew let us in.

Here is a picture of the chapel and his mural. You can see this mural was signed in 1958, before any of his books were published.

The retreat center also had a small gift shop, which, along with other religious themed gifts and books had a collection of DePaola's story books, all signed by the author. The bookstore is run by the honor system, so you just pick the book you want and put your money in the cash box. (I love the honor system).  The woman who let us in let us know that DePaolo comes back every couple of years to visit.

I would say go check it out, but its not the easiest thing to accomplish with kids. 

I guess its just nice to know that there is another unexpected gem here in the area.