2004-09-29

Riding the rail to java
Artwork adorns outside seating area of coffee house

By Marietta Homayonpour

THE NEWS-TIMES

BETHEL — There's railing and then there's the railing around the patio at Molten Java.

Instead of a typical vertical and horizontal rail in black or silver, the steel pipe railing at the Greenwood Avenue coffee shop is wavy and colorful with intricate designs that mirror the surroundings.

One panel is a steaming coffee cup. Another, near the bike rack, is a stylized bicycle.

"It's different, modern and unique," said Bethel resident Christine Schlogl, who was getting a tea Tuesday."I like it."

Another Molten Java patron, Ross Bonacci of Newtown, also liked the looks of the rail. As a tool maker he was particularly appreciative of the work that went into making it. "He did an outstanding job, a beautiful job," said Bonacci about the man who made the railing.

The rail's creator is sculptor and metal fabricator Ricardo "Rick" Parisot, who lives in Wilton. Parisot often has to make what he calls "mundane" rails that are the typical vertical pickets.

But at Molten Java, he had "free artistic reign" from the owners of the building housing the coffee house and another store, Relay Bookhouse. "This was fun," said Parisot who also is making an artistic railing for the patio in front of the bookstore.

Both patios are handicap accessible.

The frame of the Molten Java rail is a wavy, heavy gauge steel pipe painted a bright green. Within the frame are five large steel panels and one small one, each with a different scene.

In addition to the coffee cup and bicycle panels, there's one that shows a table with drinks on it, another with white and yellow stars and a planet in between, and a particularly intricate panel with musical notes. Molten Java has live music on Friday and Saturday nights.

That musical panel, said Parisot, was the only one he didn't make. Instead, it was the first-time effort of 16-year-old Michelle Bolduc, the daughter of Tom Bolduc, who owns the Bethel metal working shop where Parisot built the rail.

Michelle, who plays the clarinet, used two measures from a piece called The Canyon. The musical panel shows a black staff with a bright blue clef and notes in yellow, orange, red and lavender.

"It took patience to make those individual notes," said Michelle, who learned how to cut, weld and sand the many metal pieces that made up the musical panel.

Molten Java owner Wendy Cahill said the unusual rail "is eye catching and adds a little something to this portion of Greenwood Avenue. I love it."

Next door at Relay Bookhouse, owner Ginny Reppy likes the "festivity" of the rail which she says is drawing interest both to itself and to the shops.

The railing provides "another reason to come to Bethel," she said.

When people stop to look at the railing, "they realize there's a wonderful coffee shop and bookstore here," said Reppy, who is looking forward to the railing Parisot is creating for the bookstore.

That one, said Parisot, will depict books.

Contact Marietta Homayonpour at mhomayonpour@newstimes.com or at (203) 731-3336.