This local artist designed a killer new mural for Fall River's Miss Lizzie's Coffee shop

FALL RIVER — What’s hiding behind Lizzie Borden’s inscrutable gaze, her dark eyes and mysterious, cool expression?

A cup of coffee — maybe a muffin.

Miss Lizzie’s Coffee, 242 Second St., now has a larger-than-life portrait of the larger-than-life figure gracing its shop window. The mural, looking out over Second Street, honors the shop’s namesake, the Fall River spinster who in 1892 was accused of brutally slaying her father and stepmother, Andrew and Abby Borden.

It's the work of William Silvia, Fall River native. He created the mural using digital illustration software — and it’s not painted, but a vinyl window wrap.

“It came out better than expected,” he said.

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Silvia said shortly after Miss Lizzie’s opened last summer, he noted the store’s large front window and saw a canvas to create art on.

He took the initiative to design the mural, created a digital mockup and pitched the idea to Miss Lizzie’s owner Joe Pereira, who loved the idea.

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The mural features Lizzie’s portrait against a background of stylized news clippings, in black, white and blood red.

“The background material was authentic scans from the library,” Silvia said. “I made a collage with the actual scans from the news. Her portrait was one of the original portraits that you can find on the history sites online. It kind of made a contemporary, urban mix."

The mural is a large vinyl print, he said, “perforated so you can see out from the inside, but there’s limited visibility from the outside looking in.” It not only makes the shop more attractive — it also gives customers inside a little shade and privacy.

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Artist hopes Lizzie Borden mural is the start of something even bigger

Silvia has a background in the arts. After graduating from B.M.C. Durfee High School, he studied at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

“Went there for a few years, thought I was going to be the next Spielberg,” Silvia said, “and then I came back home over spring break and I ended up joining the military with my friend — so that got put on hold for years.”

Like his father, Billy Silvia Jr., a former cop and private investigator whose side hustle is performing in films and TV, Silvia is also a former Fall River police officer with an artistic side. He now serves in the Air National Guard, but is hoping to do more large-scale artwork. He’s pitched city officials on a larger Lizzie Borden mural elsewhere.

“I put the feelers out to see if they would be interested in it," Silvia said. “Ultimately, I would love to do that mural full-size on one of the buildings in the city, probably in that area.”

While murals have been cropping up all over downtown in recent years, Fall River’s most famous face has been immortalized in a mural only now.

“It's the history,” Silvia said. "Anybody that has some kind of idea of the city, that’s usually the first thought: the mills, and Lizzie Borden. There’s definitely a market for it.”

Dan Medeiros can be reached at [email protected]. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Miss Lizzie's Coffee has Lizzie Borden mural by Fall River artist