Groenstein’s mural-in-progress before the start of work Thursday. Paul Bass Photo Sophie Groenstein was busy loading a Genie Z-62/40 boom lift with seven gallons of paint Thursday morning as she prepared to spend another day four stories over Elm Street painting a colorful 1,400-square-f oot addition to our city’s skyline. It was day seven of Groenstein’s work creating a tribute to Lucretia, New Haven’s first known Black resident, and to the city’s history itself. She’s painting the mural on a brick wall overlooking Icaru Peruvian restaurant near the intersection of Elm and Orange — which the city in 2023 named named Lucretia’s Corner.  Graffiti artists had been tagging the wall of the 51 Elm St. building (which houses the New Haven Independent among other tenants). Working with owners of 51 Elm, the Town Green Special Services District put out a call for artists to create a mural tribute to Lucretia. The district had the wall whitewashed. Then Groenstein got to work with the help of stunning autumn blue skies. Groenstein, who is 25 and lives in Meriden, won the mural competition with a figurative tribute to early New Haveners along with New Haven’s original nine-square grid (depicteed in the subject’s flowing tresses). She did not seek to paint Lucretia herself; no known picture or description exists of Lucretia’s appearance. (Lucretia, last name unknown, was enslaved by then-Gov. Theophilus Eaton shortly after the establishment of New Haven Colony in 1638, on an estate that was located where her name now flies above the street.) Groenstein, who specializes in public art highlighting feminine themes, titled the mural “Woven Through New Haven.” “This mural represents the people of New Haven” while referencing Lucretia “in symbolic ways,” Groenstein said, “such as weaving a ribbon in her hair and the single bird up there. I really wanted to make sure that it flowed throughout.” (From Groenstein’s application to win the competition to paint the mural: “As the braids expand throughout the composition, the street grid begins to take on the organic form of a tree. Roads become branches, intersections resemble points of growth, and elm leaves emerge among the map lines as a direct reference to Elm Street and New Haven’s identity as the Elm City. This transformation from hair, to streets, to tree reflects the relationship between people, the built environment, and nature: separate systems that are deeply interconnected and continually growing together.”) Prior to Thursday, Groenstein and assistant Ed Baxter completed the background and much of the foreground. Day seven’s mission: fill in the details. The woman’s hair. Her face. And the sky (in photo). Today’s lunch: Baxter made some deli sandwiches. (Wednesday was PBJ.) The pair stays aloft in harnesses for six to seven hours at a time. They take 10-15 mintues for lunch on the rooftop and try to limit bathroom breaks. That’s a lot of intensive aerial work. “It’s quite nerve wracking” working that high up that long, noted Groenstein, who is certified to operate the Genie boom lift. “When you’re up there, you can’t be afraid of heights.” Is she afraid of heights? “A little bit,” she said. “You just can’t look down. You have to be stationery. You have to just look straight or up.” This is Groenstein’s fifth mural. She had 50 assistants and volunteers helping her on her previous job, a “Sparks of Labor” tribute to workers in Hamilton, Ohio’s industrial past.  Groenstein and Baxter filled the lift with their supplies, then ascended above downtown for another day near the clouds. She said she expects to have the mural complete in a few days. 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