Pub in downtown Waterbury is one of a single-minded, gastronomic intention. As you enter, your eyes scan the beer taps or flit up to the glitter of glass behind the bar. You nose reaches out, stretches to dissect and digest the plethora of assaulting smells. You salivate and your stomach churns, as your mind ticks through the choices of appetizers, entrees… desserts.

But if for a moment you can separate yourself from that stupor of salivation and look around, you are at once afforded an aesthetic satisfaction of an entirely different nature— the satisfaction garnered from a magical work of art. On both south-eastern walls of Arvad’s dining area— one in the bar and another in the dining-room below— is the art work of one of central Vermont’s most recognizable artists, Sarah-Lee Terrat.

No, you will not have seen her work catalogued at the Guggenheim or for sale in the wood-floored galleries of Boston or Burlington. Sarah-lee Terrat is a muralist, and her art is recognizable because it is a part of our everyday lives.

To see even a short list of Terrrat’s work is to understand what I mean: Arvad’s, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, the Golden Eagle Resort, the Stowe Mountain Resort, Pie in the Sky, Cirkus Smirkus, just to name a few.

“I really like to put things in places that may or may not have art, where people don’t expect it,” says Terrat. “That’s what I like to leave behind.”

At 51, Terrat possess a girlish enthusiasm and a seemingly insuppressible amount of energy. She is tall and slender, with two thin slivers of grey hair framing her youthful face. As she speaks, the image is that of a continuously rolling tide -- one wave of thought forever folding itself in upon the other. To hear her tell of her art work is not only to hear of color layering and glazing, of the choice of acrylics over oil, but to hear of the depth of history she has painstakingly mixed into every stroke of her brush.

“People expect a restaurant to be decorated, but they don’t always expect it to be provocative, or thoughtful, or something unexpected, or something dramatic in any way. That’s what really fun,” says Terrat.

On one wall of Arvad’s is the Waterbury Downtown, 1935. Why 1935? Because, says Terrat, in 1935 the Waterbury Dam was under construction and the town was full of people from around the world. On the other wall is a pub scene, populated with well-known Vermonters from throughout history. Immediately recognizable is Bernie Sanders dancing on the dance floor and Jim Douglas sitting down to talk. In the center of the room, Fred Tuttle smiles contentedly, while Hannah Teter, Vermont’s own snowboard champion, is hanging-loose down front.

“I got to choose who dances with who, who falls in love with who,” says Terrat of the pub scene, laughing in a warm and satisfied way, as though she were Alice having just discovered Wonderland.

Terrat began her career as a freelance artist in New York City. On a whim, while visiting her brother in Vermont, she applied for a job at Ben and Jerry’s in Waterbury. Terrat says she had no portfolio with her and was dressed as though ready for a day in the country, replete with rubber boots and all. Surprisingly, say Terrat, Ben and Jerry’s hire her, and for the next eleven years Terrat played an integral role in overall appearance of the now-international company. Along with helping design and paint the company’s signage, Terrat helped design the look the famous Ben and Jerry’s scoop shops. A task, she said, that required a great deal of creative flexibility, because there we never two alike.

Leaving Ben and Jerry’s, Terrat again went freelance. Along with her more public works, Terrat adds to her list of accolades two bedrooms in the house of Trey Anastasio, lead singer and guitarist for the Vermont band Phish, as well as the music room of the band’s bassist, Mike Gordon.

For the past few years, Terrat has worked predominantly as a designer for Fat Cat Inc., a maker of pet toys and accessories, originally of Vermont but now out of California. During this time, Terrat says, she always tried to keep a hand in freelance. The second mural at Arvad’s, that of the pub, was done in the early mornings, before the lunch crowd and before Terrat would go off to work at Fat Cat. Shortly after Fat Cat Inc. was sold to the California-based Munchkin Inc., Terrat again returned to full-time freelance. This was just a few months ago.

Excited, though a little nervous about her new-found freedom, Terrat is already hard at work. She has been commissioned to design and construct 70 poured resin floor tiles for the global wind energy company, NRG Systems, in Hinesburg. Having previously painted floor murals for the company’s original building, NRG is expanding and has hired Terrat to create the tiles, install a few more murals, and assist in the overall color design of the new addition.
To learn more about Sarah-Lee Terrat, or to get in touch, you can visit her website at, www.yelodogdesign.com