VB Magazine - February 2024 - Mural, Mural on the Wall

“I’m so busy it’s unbelievable,” says Vero Beach muralist Barbara Sharp, whose work over the past 40 years has included yachts, corporate jets, and commercial establishments, but mostly private homes. “Each home is so different. I finished a mural in grisaille in Palm Beach—a big Renaissance design with giant shells, 6-foot-tall grotto fish, and a big dolphin,” she says. 

Sharp occasionally collaborates on projects with Elizabeth Read Pusser, co-owner of Oodles of Wallpaper in Vero Beach. Says Pusser, “Murals are very popular today. Every wallpaper company has their own renditions of murals. Traditionally sold by the panel, they can range at the low end for $150 a panel all the way up to $2,500 a panel and even more.” 

Pusser advises that, when dealing with panoramic scenes, it is best to order sequential panels for continuity of design. Murals are in Pusser’s blood; her great-great uncle was the famous 1920s artist and muralist Claggett Wilson, who was admired by Matisse. Pusser’s uncle, the graphic artist Claggett Wilson Read, resides in John’s Island and Darien, Connecticut.