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October 29, 2026
A new mural is bringing color and meaning to Beacon Landing, our new permanent supportive housing community in partnership with The Lamb Center. Created by local artists Sarah Berry and Caesar McGann, the mural draws inspiration from local nature and, most importantly, ideas shared by guests and volunteers at The Lamb Center.
From the path and changing sky, to birds and flowers inspired directly by guests’ artwork, the mural reflects themes of home, hope, dark and light, and nature, that emerged through the collaborative design process held in February 2026. The finished piece, facing Fairfax Circle, creates a vibrant welcome at Beacon Landing while representing the voices, ideas, and perspectives of the community it was created to celebrate.
About the Mural
The mural designed for Beacon Landing depicts a wooded scene with a path leading towards the horizon, hugged by a stream, being touched by the rays of the sun. This is reminiscent of many local woodland trails, like Accotink Creek across from the mural site in Fairfax Circle. One of the artforms Sarah enjoys creating most is mosaic, so she incorporated the style of mosaic tesserae (tiles) into this mural design. The image was only created after the artists, Sarah Berry and Caser McGann, spent time at The Lamb Center, gathering invaluable ideas for the art from the guests. The themes that came up most frequently as the guests provided visual and verbal input included: sun, path, trees, birds, flowers, dark and light, and home. To capture darkness and light, the mural design features the wooded scene through the phase of a day, with a sunburst, the beacon of light, slicing through a sky as it changes from dawn, to daylight, to dusk, to night from one side of the mural to the other. The palette of colors in the mural was selected to be both whimsical and modern, with the hope that it would evoke a connection to local nature, be a vibrant placemaker at the gateway to Fairfax Circle and evoke joy for all who pass by it. The birds and flowers in the mural were pulled directly from drawings and collages by guests and volunteers at The Lamb Center. Sarah and Caesar are grateful for this collaborative design process, which ensured that the artwork was not simply created for those who will call Beacon Landing home, but shaped by their voices, ideas and perspectives.
About the Artists
Sarah Berry is an art consultant, curator, multi-disciplinary artist, and community builder. She holds a BA from George Mason University and a MS in Arts Administration from Boston University. She is driven by a passion for making art accessible and relevant to the broader community. Sarah is the founder of Persimmon Project Murals, and her murals featuring native species can be enjoyed throughout the DMV. She prides herself in hiring talented local artists as collaborators on public art projects. Sarah served on the Fairfax County Public Art Master Plan Task Force, helping research and author the document that will become the county’s Public Art Master Plan. She was also a member of the Advisory Group for the Fairfax County Regional Artist Survey; the results of this first-ever artist census were published in 2025. As a curator, Sarah ensures that art belongs everywhere – in traditional settings and in unexpected places. She currently works as the Curator for both the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton and the Bodzin Art Gallery in Fairfax. In her creative practice, she uses upcycled, crowd-sourced items more often than new ones in mixed media art and mosaic, and emphasizes her care for the environment in her process and artwork. Her fine art photography has been published by the Smithsonian Institution and The Boston Globe. See more at smberry.com.
Caesar McGann is known for his passionate dedication to the craft of painting. With over 30 years of experience painting on walls, he has worked on a wide range of mural projects across the country. As a teenager, he began to paint graffiti, and his signature style quickly garnered national attention. Following this love of letters, his focus shifted to sign painting. Traveling throughout the South as a freelancer, he painted billboards for companies like Mountain Dew and Pepsi. Caesar spent five years in New York City painting signs and billboards on some of the biggest walls the city had to offer. Eventually starting his own company, he painted ads throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan, in addition to painting interior murals for top tier galleries and artists. His own fine art career has followed suit, having displayed his work in a variety of galleries both in the US and abroad. Caesar is a pioneer of the mural scene in Richmond VA, having created several of the town’s most recognizable murals. In recent years Caesar has been teaching classes and workshops sharing his knowledge and experience with the next generation of aspiring artists. See more at caesarsopenstudio.com.