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Arts & Entertainment

New Mural Brightens Hospital for Patients

Heather Dunn & Company contributes second mural to Southampton Hospital.

Following their in 's basement, design firm Heather Dunn & Company of Springs recently completed a second mural for the hospital, this time using a canopy outside of patient rooms as a canvas.

Completed by artist Thom Kostura and his father, creative director Richard M. Kostura, the 50-foot-long mural features water, fields and blue sky, representing an aerial overview of the South Fork. Each foot represents one mile of the hospital's service area, from Westhampton to Montauk.

Thom Kostura said the original plan was to continue the basement mural down another hallway, toward an office. “The location of that office was going to be moved, so there was no longer a reason to," he explained. Then nine months ago a maintenance staff member brought to their attention the dismal view from a few second-floor patient rooms: the backside of the emergency department entrance canopy. “Once we saw it, we know that something had to be done,” Kostura said.

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"Prior to their involvement, the view from these patient rooms was dark and unappealing and best hidden behind blinds," a hospital statement reads.

Initially, Heather Dunn & Co. considered mounting four panels outside the windows, each representing a season in a Hamptons, Kostura said. But Mitchell Weinberger from Acrylabs, which donated the material, turned them on to a product that would allow them to paint the whole surface. "It’s a special primer that basically makes any surface into a paintable surface,” Kostura said. That opened the door to many possibilities for the mural.

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“[My father] came up with the basic layout of looking at it as if you were looking out to the South Fork with the ocean behind it — from there, he gave me creative liberty," Kostura said.

Kostura said the finished product blends into the sky and tree tops even more than he anticipated it would. “It's not a bright, poppy mural," he said. "It's something that very subdued, very understated.” That was in keeping with their plan to make the mural very light and minimal, since patients could be looking at is for days on end.

“At Heather Dunn and Company, we believe that our environment greatly affects our perspective and quality of life," Heather Dunn was quoted as saying in a hospital statement. "As human beings we cannot help but be affected by our surroundings."

Hospital President and CEO Bob Chaloner thanked both Heather Dunn & Company and Acrylabs. "Their contributions will greatly improve the patient experience,” he said.

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