Norwich ― Faith Satterfield deftly wielded a paint sprayer, shooting swirls of orange and magenta around a solid white inner circle in the early stage of her weeklong project to turn the drab two-story side wall of the Sunlight Building into an image of light and a message of hope.

Her latest mural, “Breakthrough,” will combine the images of two of eight abstract paintings Satterfield has hanging inside the Norwich Community Development Foundry 66 office complex that adjoins the Sunlight Building. The paintings depict the darkness of a storm, rain and that first glimmer of light that comes when the clouds first start to break.

Satterfield, 43, of Norwich, did not hesitate to say the images describe her own journey as a single mother of two children, ages 5 and 7, who freed herself from an abusive marriage and is on her road to recovery. She painted her first Norwich mural 10 years ago, a giant watering can bringing life to a Norwich rose on the wall of what is now the Chestnut Street Playhouse a block away from the Sunlight Building.

A year ago this month, Satterfield became a full-time artist with her own business, Murals by Faith. She partners with schools and Norwich Youth and Family Services to help students express themselves through art. Over the years, she estimated she has painted about 70 murals from Massachusetts to Kentucky.

Beyond her own journey, “Breakthrough” is meant to send a message to Norwich as the world is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and can see the light ― not the light in the distance at the end of the tunnel, she emphasized, but the light you emerge into as you climb out.

“That’s what I want people to see, hope,” Satterfield said. “It’s important to have hope for the future. … And this is the Sunlight Building!”

The south-facing side wall of the Sunlight Building faces the busy new downtown roundabout at Franklin and Main streets. It is a busy bus stop for Southeast Area Transit commuter buses and handles traffic heading to City Hall a block away.

The mural is being funded by a $9,500 grant from the Southeastern Connecticut Cultural Coalition using federal American Rescue Plan Act grant money to the city of Norwich. Satterfield’s project was selected almost a year ago, but the process was delayed as Norwich was in the process of creating a Public Art Committee to review submittals.

Satterfield and assistant Zachariah Stover rented a lift machine and started setting up in the Bath Street side parking lot on Sunday. It took most of that day to cover the building windows with plastic and get ready for this week’s painting.

The public is invited to watch the work in progress this week, weather permitting, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until it is finished.

The two Satterfield paintings used as the basis for the mural, “Eye of the Storm” and “Breakthrough,” and six other Satterfield paintings in the series are on display in the NCDC Foundry 66 shared workspace office complex at 66 Franklin St.

c.bessette@theday.com

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