The Department of Public Works (DPW) Yard has a fresh new look, honoring the people who keep the town running.

Artist Shelia Billings designed a mural outside the DPW Yard at 200 Paradise Road, and now the “Big Blue Wave” is officially on display for all who drive by.

“I’ve never done anything like this outside on a state highway,” Billings told the Swampscott Tides. “It’s for Big Big…I just always assumed Big Blue was a wave because we’re on the ocean, but it’s an idea. It’s a concept. So this is my concept.”

Billings recently completed two murals for both the children’s room and the makerspace at the Swampscott Public Library. She designed an abstract piece for the makerspace, inspired by circuit board patterns. The children’s room now features an under-the-sea mural, where creatures are depicted reading, playing games, and exploring their world.

Billings became involved in public mural projects through the town’s senior citizen property tax work-off program.

“It was things like work in town hall, cutting the grass at cemeteries, and weeding. All those things I kind of like to do, but I’m an artist,” Billings said. “So I made my own little box and I checked it. I put a paper with it explaining what I could do, like murals.”

For the DPW wall, Billings submitted several design options, noting that the final version was her favorite.

“I was inspired by Hokusai,” Billings said, referring to the famous Great Wave off Kanagawa painting by the Japanese artist from 1831. “It incorporates some elements…I did whirls and swirls around it too.”

The phrase “public works makes it happen” lines the bottom of the mural in big white, capitalized letters.It’s a nod to a sticker Billings once saw on DPW Director and interim Town Administrator Gino Cresta’s bulletin board. Many DPW crew members embraced the phrase during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting “all the stuff they did for the town… It was amazing, and they don’t get the credit,” Billings said.

“I said, ‘That’s strong,’ and I wrote it at the bottom of my sketch,” Billings said. “He was into it.”

Art has been a constant presence in Billings’ life, as she grew up in a family of artists, surrounded by visual, musical and literary expressions. After working as an elementary school teacher in Salem and in the art department at Beverly High School, Billings now spends time on her own art. Her mural work ranges from immersive 360-degree designs in a golf practice room to a single wall in a child’s bedroom. She painted the patriotic utility box on the site of the Jared Raymond memorial beside the Swampscott Cemetery. 

In 2010, Billings received the first and second place prizes for the Friends of the Swampscott Public Library logo contest.  She is also a member of the Swampscott Art Association and REACH Arts. 

Billings said she has more opportunities to come around Swampscott too.

“The library wants something else,” Billings said. “They have ideas. I’m going to work on one at the middle school with the kids.”