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Ellen’s Work Blog
June 2026

AMP’s growth has taken us to a new place. 

Under Executive Director Jen Chrein’s guidance, we are starting to reach out in a new direction, to develop curriculum and market AMP educational products for teachers across the country to incorporate the mural’s tribute to working Americans into their classroom studies. AMP’s spirit of collaboration is embedded in everything we do and key to achieving more meaningful and powerful goals.

The opportunity to reach so many more kids virtually is very exciting, but it takes some sharp minds working hard here at home base. And it takes funding. And the key third piece is establishing this strong virtual presence across the country.

As always, your help keeps us growing in the best ways. After 25 years of work on AMP, I understand that getting excited is not enough without all of you there to help us make it happen.

As we head into June, and summer, and kids are all over the grounds, I thought it was a great moment to thank you all for your support.

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Ellen’s Work Blog
May 2026

May!!!

My favorite month of the year. Everything about renewal is contained within these 31 days. Tulips and lilacs, bright colors replacing drab days of rain and fog. And summer is on everyone's mind.

And at AMP, I can’t wait to get out there with our summer kids. What are the new structures Chip, Justin, and the kids will add to our nature playground up on the hill? What is Shana up to with the teens in our program room? The dress forms and easels are out and monster creations are happening nonstop for two weeks in June. Our younger AMP kids will not miss out on painting up a storm with Art Play, Dabble, and STEAM for our science kids. New this year: Curtain Up! Musical Theater—a week exploring all things theatrical from costume design to the week's rehearsals for a performance on Friday with the professionals from the acting troupe Grumbling Gryphons. And a favorite end-of-camp session every year: all the kids enrolled in Band Lab prepare with Sam for their last day concert for parents and friends.

If you are making plans for your kids' summer this year, reserve your spot ASAP. These fill up fast as the school year winds down. 

I know it’s early to make Memorial Day weekend plans, but now you can check that off your list. I am giving you plenty of warning here that you and your family and friends won’t want to miss meeting Colonel Alton Whitley, the first operational pilot to test the F-117 Nighthawk and, years later, take command of the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing on the eve of Operation Desert Storm. 

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Ellen’s Work Blog
April 2026

Let's start our April news on a high note: Live @AMP is back! Since we sold out last year’s a cappella event, we wisely decided to do it again, this time with three all-female collegiate groups for our Vocal Fireworks event on Saturday, April 18. I was in an a cappella group in college. I owe all my most obnoxious moments of bursting into song to a weekend trip with this group to NYC. After a couple of glasses of wine, we spontaneously decided to do a free performance for people at the crossroads of Broadway and 49th. I believe we got a standing ovation. Come to think of it, everyone was already standing.

An exciting addition to our AMP event lineup: our new After-School Teen Art Club. Before I was an obnoxious singing street performer, I was an inveterate scribbler, doodler, painter, sketcher, etc. If you have a creative teen looking for a weekly chance to get together to make art, explore new things, and socialize with other cool teens, this Friday afternoon addition to our schedule will surely be welcome.

Another GIANT event is coming up on our spring calendar. (I am technically cheating, letting you know about this a month in advance). One of my many heroes, Colonel Alton Whitley is coming to AMP from South Carolina to be with us over Memorial Day Weekend. A long time AMP Advisor and five-star individual, Alton, his wife Ann and their grandchild Whitley, will all be with us on Saturday May 23 for an AMP Talk about his astounding career in the United States Air Force. Earlier in the day we are planning a HUGELY special family experience at AMP where kids can meet Colonel Whitley. Working with the CT Air Museum and the Hartford Science Center we will have a zillion cool things to do for all ages. Thanks to the New England Air Museum, we will have a portable flight simulator, flight helmets, and other sky-high fun. My favorite, and something I have wanted to do for years—we are going to have a paper airplane contest with materials to create your fast flyer and room to test the results of your plane’s performance! There will be prizes awarded for longest elapsed time in the air, longest distance flown, and most creative folded ‘airworks’. 

I know it’s early to make Memorial Day weekend plans, but now you can check that off your list. I am giving you plenty of warning here that you and your family and friends won’t want to miss meeting Colonel Alton Whitley, the first operational pilot to test the F-117 Nighthawk and, years later, take command of the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing on the eve of Operation Desert Storm. 

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Ellen’s Work Blog
March 2026
Every year by the time we get to March, I am ready for spring—dulled out by the same gray, dismal cold. 

To fight the winter blahs, I try to work on something exciting and new with emphasis on bright colors. We’re back installing the collaborative art pieces created over the years by 15,000 kids across the country. If I were to suggest all the work on our back ramp happened in the last few weeks, that would totally misrepresent the length of time taken installing these projects back there. Justin, Rick, John, Don, Josh, Shari and I have been hard at work on this for over two years. And John Jacquier’s crew came in this past year to fabricate all the railings on site. And then there's all the kids' contributions from across the country.

Taking in the overall scale of the mural for the first time is a rush. By contrast, this walk 'back stage’ from the second to the third viewing platforms will be powerful because of its intimacy. As visitors go from one state collaborative project to the next, they will be right on top of all the kids' work. And there is no mistaking every student's ownership of his or her piece—it is there in every brush stroke and every line of copy they have contributed.

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Ellen’s Work Blog
February 2026

Wow! This morning, I had to pull on my Steger Mukluks to do some work up to my knees in this snow. I'm starting to wonder if we're living in Connecticut or Alaska, with no temperatures above freezing for more than two weeks. 

But …..surf’s up!! 

Nicole Zuraitis is coming to AMP for our first LIVE @AMP event for 2026 this Saturday, February 7. No matter how cold it is outside, our giant space is going to be heating up with this jazz concert! Nicole plans to perform My Favorite Songs—to translate from Nicole herself, this means she is giving herself room to sing/play everything from original work that has won her Grammys for the last two years to anything that strikes her mood.

I guarantee this is going to be HUGE once she comes in and feels the vibes at AMP.

Footnote: We are all wishing Nicole good luck on Sunday. She has been nominated for two more Grammy Awards. Hopefully she will score a pair to match the two she already has!

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Ellen’s Work Blog
January 2026

2026 is here. And already there are lots of exciting plans in the works for the new year.

For starters, we have invited Jennifer Chrein to join AMP as our new executive director.

I have known Jen for a short 18 months, our first meeting at one of our LIVE @AMP concerts. She comes to us with a deep background in kids’ programming, working with national outlets like Sesame Street and Common Sense. Her experience in global programing and media distribution specializing in children’s content creation is going to be a game changer for us as we look ahead to growing all areas of our education programs. Full of ideas already and not limited to kids, we have already shared thoughts about expanding our public events to include one act plays and an exciting partnership with the dance company Pilobolus in the works.

One of my biggest problems from the first day I started dreaming about creating the mural, was having to keep too many great ideas at bay. I would dream so many scenarios for the big mural space and tell myself to stay centered on the first goal: creating a home for AMP.

Now we have the space, and these ideas are happening again. The possibilities feel almost limitless.

Let’s see what we can do to launch a few of them in the next 12 months!

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Ellen’s Work Blog
December 2025

I am having so much fun helping address envelopes for our annual appeal. It is the one time of year I get to slip back in time, thinking about all of you who support AMP. Some are recent donors I have yet to meet, while others have been helping us out for a decade or two. 

It is the perfect time of year to appreciate what all this means. I remember early days of working hard to translate my idea for the mural project to others without much visual aid. Instead, our future home for AMP was a cavernous basement space in an old mill, pitch dark and full of water. My description of a future five-story high, three-dimensional work of art was a pretty hard sell. And to suggest to most audiences that this installation, once complete, would spur subsequent ideas for all sorts of kids' programming and live events for all of us bordered on the absurd.

Sometimes it happens that you have to plunge ahead with a tiny group who believe in your giant idea. And once on a roll, momentum builds in its favor. But it is ALWAYS the people behind the effort who make it happen. The small group grows and the power and impact grows with it. 

In the end, it is all of you who sensed this big idea could be our present reality. 

More than anything, this giant tribute to American workers is about community. We are all in this together.

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Ellen’s Work Blog
November 2025

Seven years ago I decided it was time to get some help on AMP. We were starting to grow, and our expansive ideas were more than I could handle, leaning mainly on family members to help me carry out my dreams.

Amy and I were already working together from her position as head of the NWCT Arts Council. She was ready for a change, and accepted my offer to be AMP's first executive director.

Now we are at the next juncture in our growth and all those big ideas have multiplied and Amy is ready for the next chapter in her career.

I am a big believer in serendipitous things happening in life, not necessarily planned but obvious when they come up. That was certainly the case when Amy Wynn joined the AMP. The work she has accomplished, the hours of overtime she has logged, the mountains we have climbed together since that moment are many and miraculous.

First, I am excited for what is next for Amy and grateful for every moment she has invested in her work at AMP. As sad as I am to see her leave, I feel we are at another one of those moments, moving to the next chapter of our story. I am filled with anticipation and excitement for all that is ahead, knowing Amy will always be in the wings, ready to assist when we need her help and advice.

Much love, Amy, and forever, thanks.

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Ellen’s Work Blog
October 2025

October is here and I still think we are in early September. I am always trying to slow things down at this time of year. It is so gorgeous outside but the mornings have that chill that hint at another season to follow. I refuse to abandon shorts and a t-shirt.

But, as always on AMP, there is so much ahead that is thrilling on the calendar. Just look down our events page and get excited about a visit to AMP this month!

This coming weekend I will be seeing a friend, Victoria Taketa, from San Jose Japantown. Vickie is visiting AMP for the first time. We met 20 years ago in California when she and her mother, Akiyo, came to contribute to a giant AMP project in tribute to those who survived life in the internment camps during WWII. After a year of planning this collaborative project, our AMP crew traveled first to Japantown, then headed to a site in the desert for a pilgrimage at Manzanar, California, a former internment site. We met over 1000 people who were relatives or had, themselves, been interned in the camps.

Vickie’s mom arrived using a walker to get around, breathing with the aid of an oxygen tank and speaking little English. Akiyo unwrapped her Yasutomo Calligraphy brush and set out her inks. For several hours, this woman stood braced by her walker, practicing on newsprint. Finally, late in the afternoon, she unwrapped her rice paper scroll and began to write, describing her coming to America as a 19 year old girl right through life in the internment camps and after.

Her last line: “Yet, as I look back today, the happy moments are what I am thankful for, as I await my place in heaven.” Akiyo Inouye Taketa died months after our project leaving a message as vital today as it was then. 

And get excited…this is another giant collaborative project to be installed at AMP coming up! So many surprises ahead.

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Ellen’s Work Blog
September 2025

Growing up, I dreaded that moment of going back to school in September. It marked the end of the total freedom to do whatever I wanted, drawing and painting in a back room of our house or, outside, hula-hooping my way up to Trary Baumstark’s house to idle away another summer day.   

Now, as fall approaches, I am excited about what is ahead. Justin, Rick and I have been working on installing the Regeneration Project in our ramp gallery. This project represents the work of over 100 students in ten Connecticut schools, completed over a span of seven months this past year. Getting to know all these kids was special and every piece of artwork drilled into the plywood triggers great memories. 

Not unlike completing all the portraits on the mural itself, each time a section goes up and is bolted into place, I breathe easier.

On Regeneration, the experience of working with all these fabulous kids cannot be over until their work is permanently up there for all to see and admire.

We are getting so close.

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Ellen’s Work Blog
August 2025

Summer is flying by. It always goes so fast after anticipating its arrival through all the grey days of winter and slow accent into spring.

But no complaints. 

We are in the last week of a fantastic Summer @AMP with talented and energetic teaching artists, and 90 incredibly creative kids from Dabble to Build, Band to Teen Art Studio, inside and out. We set new records for numbers of campers attending the various programs this year. I had a few chances to visit with each group. No matter how overwhelmed I am with work, my spirits are always lifted when I visit with everyone on site in July.

And August is here with a return to a packed fall schedule. 

With a throw-back to the '90’s Seattle-grunge scene, Gryme, will fill our space with an acoustic tribute to bands that shaped a generation. Our hugely popular piano series returns with Michael Carabello—and every fourth Friday of the month we feature a new artist. We have a poetry workshop for seniors planned with poets Steve Straight and Elizabeth Thomas. So much ahead.

What about the kids? Family Days are back every second Saturday. These are such fun Saturdays with Teen Art Studio going on simultaneously. Our space is so alive on those visitation days—it's just great to be in there meeting people.

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Ellen’s Work Blog
July 2025

July! Here come the kids for Summer @AMP.

I am so psyched. I just love hanging out with Chip, Justin, and all the ODB kids up in our outdoor space. Every year they work on amazing projects—serious building. Since we have jumped from reticent spring to full-blown heat waves this past week, I'm thinking of all the cold drinks I can bring up the hill to our crew, then visiting the program room to suggest artwork projects depicting popsicles and ice cream. Whatever the heat index, these kids get together fixated on the projects at hand, almost unaware of the weather.

Their generosity of spirit and enthusiasm are contagious. It’s no wonder I make excuses for coming over to work on site. 

And there are just a few spots left in our summer program schedule. Check the various programs and sign up online. Looks like every session will be full in the days ahead.

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Ellen’s Work Blog
June 2025

May was a rapid blur of intense activity all month for everyone on staff, aided by our entire complement of AMP interns. From the sold out, best-ever Recycled Runway, to our final wrap-up on the AMP Regeneration Project with my brilliant and new best friend Paul Hawken, this month was packed with activity. It is hard for me to come down from the experience I had on Saturday hosting Paul and the students from seven different schools across the state. Over the past eight months, I have dreamt of talking to these kids about their work. Nothing came close to the actual moment when each school took center stage. Many students grabbed the microphone and described their contribution to Regeneration.

Now onto June and summer. We start on Sunday, the 8th, at 4pm with an AMP Talk and PowerPoint presented by my other best friend, and exceptional photojournalist, Christopher Little. Having spent a certain part of my early career as a sports photographer, I can attest to Chris’s exceptional talents, but what makes him singular is his ability to relax his subjects, capturing their most candid expressions. Christopher has Time, People, and Vanity Fair covers to his name—and with each one, there is a story to tell, whether it involves the Queen of England, Barbara Bush, or Tom Hanks. Everyone loves Chris, and their smiles are genuine. I get it. Christopher photographed me in my studio and we had a blast.

And, of course, June means summer camps begin. We are close to full in all sessions. I can’t wait to hang out with the campers and our teaching artists. Isn’t that the best of summer?

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Ellen’s Work Blog
May 2025

April flew by with so much going on at AMP—blues musician Eric Bibb, pianist Mike Ford, and another great Family Day and Teen Art Studio.

In the meantime, 100 kids in ten Connecticut schools are wrapping up their seven months of work on the Regeneration Project. Since January, I have been sharing photos of their work with Regeneration author Paul Hawken. He has become increasingly drawn in and moved by what is happening on the project. Last week, in the middle of a zillion book signing commitments with his publisher, Paul booked his flight from San Francisco to Connecticut to visit AMP.

This is a phenomenal moment for the American Mural Project. Paul is giving two talks during his one-day visit. He wants to meet all the students on the Regeneration Project, their families and their teachers on Saturday afternoon. Later, he plans to discuss his most recent work and sign his new book Carbon for guests attending the evening session. If you have any concerns about our next steps in saving this planet, you will never be closer to anyone who has more knowledge and experience than Paul. He has spent his lifetime giving lectures, writing about and working with leaders in the climate field all around the globe.  

And we can thank all these creative kids for the exceptional work they have done. They are the reason Paul Hawken is coming to AMP.

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Ellen’s Work Blog
April 2025

March often ends and I wonder what I have accomplished. It seems to be a month of coming out of hibernation and ends with me still making my way through piles of paperwork.

But April is going to be different.    

I have just finished reading AMP Advisor Paul Hawken’s new book, Carbon. It's a masterpiece, a lifetime’s worth of research and information on the state of our natural world. It's also a guide for how each of us humans can reverse the damage we've done to the Earth.

Since October, AMP has been working with over 100 kids across the state, tackling this topic together as part of our Regeneration Project, which will wrap up at the end of May. Once the schools have finished their projects, we will collect their pieces and I will begin to pull everything together for the permanent art installation at AMP. A giant thanks to all the students who have participated and are helping to alert the world that ongoing changes in how we live, work, and do business are necessary.

So bring on April showers with new buds, plants, and pollinators. We're rolling up our sleeves collectively and ready to dig in!            

And, if you think we are all work and no play at AMP, the next two months are jammed with activities for every age. Scroll down and pick your favorite. Guaranteed entertainment!

Ellen's Work Blog

Ellen’s Work Blog
March 2025

I am so thrilled the days are getting longer and the temps are getting warmer. I can’t wait to lose this parka and start to see the world again in living color.

And we are moving on the ramp gallery! The Jacquier Welding crew visited last month to measure for our handrails. Justin and I are artistically filling in holes so the building inspector will love us. There are still photos and storyboards to go up to accompany the artwork all these kids have contributed. 

I can’t wait for visitors to learn about some of the collaborative projects we completed over the past 15 years with kids across the country. Moving through the ramp gallery, they will read stories about projects at White Earth Reservation in MN; Baton Rouge, LA; the Penn Center on St. Helena Island, SC; and Hope Meadows in Rantoul, IL. From 40 students at the Agassi Academy in Las Vegas to 900+ kids from eight schools in Washington, DC—all these students have worked with us to tell their stories and pay tribute to the workers in America they know the best: their own families.

Ellen's Work blog

Ellen’s Work Blog
February 2025

Despite he big chill of January, AMP never slowed up, with lots of visitors braving the cold to come to see the mural and make fire art tiles with visitor services staffers Eli, Sky, and Michaela and interns Nick and Joyce. I am guessing part of our guests' motivation is just to warm up. Creating these tiles is so much fun, and they are yours to bring home. They are the perfect Valentine for someone who couldn’t come with you.

Now February is entering with a bang. This Saturday, The New Mosaic leads off the LIVE @AMP 2025 season with one of my favorite vocalists: Erica Tracy. She'll be accompanied by bassist Tom Sullivan, Mike Carabello on keyboard, and Dwayne Keith on drums. I guarantee you will not be able to sit still, and what better way to warm up than dancing in our space to this great band?

For me, this month is going to be spent returning to the schools involved in our Regeneration Project. I am so thrilled with the work of these phenomenal art teachers and students all around Connecticut. So many different approaches have been taken. The students are really digging deep in their collaborative effort to create a statement about contribution. In forming better habits and making changes that are sometimes tough, we can eliminate contaminants from the environment that threaten wildlife and sea creatures, not to mention a chance to save us from ourselves. But we ALL need to get involved. Nothing here is easy but nothing good comes from leaving the work to others.

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Ellen’s Work Blog
January 2025

What a GIANT, busy, terrific year for AMP!

As we all look ahead to 2025, the operative word is new. New goals are being set and new programs and events are in the works, including LIVE @AMP and AMP Talks. We have new ideas to introduce to our visitors and new lessons for all of us to learn as we try out different things at AMP.

I have a giant list of must-do projects slated for myself, including finishing the installation sections of the back ramp gallery so we can open it to the public this summer. I am psyched to continue working with the ten Connecticut schools participating in our Regeneration Project. And I have some new ideas of my own I want to try out in the months ahead.

Whatever we go for, and however successful the ideas, we will hold firm to one agreed principle: the American Mural Project welcomes everyone—young, ld, and in-between. Our main incentive is to demonstrate how much we can continue to accomplish simply by working together.

And, as always, we can’t do it without you. Thank you for all your help in 2024.

Here we go! 

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Ellen’s Work Blog
December 2024

As we head from Thanksgiving to Christmas with a few short weeks left in 2024, I have many projects in the works. Chief among them is our ongoing Regeneration Project with schools all over the state. 

Having spent the last days of November visiting the Gilbert School in Winsted, Southwest Middle School in Torrington, and Renzulli Academy in Hartford, I am stoked. These students are going all out on this project, and as they start to fill their Regeneration sketchbooks with ideas, the possibilities expand. In anyone’s world, cleaning up the planet is not happening overnight, and it is not happening without everyone pitching in. This is a giant task, including for all of us at AMP. 

This coming week, AMP Education Director Michelle Begley and I will get a complete tour of the Net Zero campus of Mansfield School in Storrs, CT, with Chris Kueffner and his wife Lynn Stoddard, who is the recently retired head of Sustainable CT. Then, we will meet with the school's Changemakers—the students working on Regeneration. Friday, I am going to Fairfield to meet with the Ludlowe students to see where they are headed with their Regeneration Project. (Other participating schools are Barkhamsted Elementary, Botelle Elementary in Norfolk, CHAMPS After School in Winsted, Colebrook Elementary, and Northwest Regional 7 in Winsted.) Together, all of the students will bring attention to what is needed to support every living creature—on land, in the air, and in the sea.

This Saturday, December 7, Sandra Boynton and her immensely talented family and friends will be at AMP. Videos on the big screen will showcase music from her new album Cows and Holly, along with a few live performances. They will fill our space with holiday cheer. Whatever you have planned to celebrate the holidays, this will be the kick-off event of your season. The Cows and Holly album, with all of the Boynton animation and original musical scores, is pure genius.

Sandy is doing this, especially for AMP, because she loves us so much!

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Ellen’s Work Blog
November 2024

I am starting November with an upbeat message. 

I want to rally everyone around a simple idea of working together. This is a perfect time to make a loud noise for collaboration here and across the country. And let’s have it be something meaningful for all of us.

This is not a new concept for anyone who hangs around the mural project. Through the years, we have moved mountains at AMP simply by working together, each one of us recognizing and celebrating what makes us distinct, different, and special. Paul Hawken, our Advisor on the Regeneration Project, says it perfectly: “each of us is multitudes.”

So, jump-starting this idea, this past Monday, we invited 100 kids and teachers from ten schools across Connecticut to AMP for our first big meeting for Regeneration. From Hartford to Fairfield and everywhere in between, the students arrived in buses and vans. They spent the day together, getting to know each other and learning about their assignment for the next six months: to address the most important threat for all of us on this earth, global warming—and the resulting disappearance of clean water, wildlife, and natural habitats for all of us on the planet.

When I am losing hope about reasonable solutions to problems, I turn to young people who, most times, have a much better handle on it. To begin, they have no ulterior motive but to solve the actual problem as they see it. Once the Regeneration Project is finished and installed in the spring, it is going to blow everyone’s mind who visits AMP and takes it in. These kids are in charge of the creation and the narrative. Whatever comes of this, the students will own it.

It is a great time for all of us older guys to take notice.