Smithtown post office murals a letter carrier's artistic Long Island vision

An artist's rendition of Citifield, with puffy clouds and blue skies set behind the ballpark's brick and glass rotunda, reminds visitors and workers alike at the U.S. Postal Service's New York 2 District office in Smithtown of someplace else they could be.

It's also an example of how a letter carrier and artist found a way to bring his lifelong passion to work — transforming otherwise gray brick walls into something beautiful.

For three months last year, Richard Clarkson, 55, a letter carrier based out of Springfield Gardens, Queens, spent his workdays inside a stairwell at the Smithtown postal facility, the strokes of his paintbrush overtime revealing to whoever walks by a muraled journey from the eastern tip of Long Island to the borough it borders.

"I hope they take something from it," Clarkson told Newsday of the eight separate murals. "I hope it brightens up the place and maybe brings a smile to someone's face instead of just seeing a wall."

Clarkson, who has delivered mail since 1996, grew up in Woodhaven, Queens, where watching cartoons like "Popeye" and "The Flintstones" sparked his urge to draw by the time he was 4.

"I've always had that creative side," said Clarkson, who has no formal art training. Instead, he learned new techniques through practice and online videos.

In 2002, he wrote and self-published a children's book, "Mail Tales," documenting the everyday work of letter carriers. Several years later, he created a newspaper comic strip featuring a letter carrier named Stampson with postal-themed humor.

"It showed what a letter carrier does," Clarkson said. "The different ways a letter gets from point A to point B."

His day job and his artwork had come together previously but had otherwise stayed separate until September 2025 when District 2 Manager John Tortorice called him unexpectedly to ask if he'd bring his paint, brushes and ideas to Smithtown.

Clarkson won a 2016 postal service art competition, with the prize being painting a mural of the Brooklyn Bridge at the Postal Service's Brooklyn processing and distribution center cafeteria. His finished mural caught the eye of Tortorice, then based at the Brooklyn facility.

The first Smithtown mural, featuring the Montauk Lighthouse, proved to be the most difficult. Clarkson said he'd never used a brick wall as his canvas. But eventually, as each of the eight murals came together, Clarkson grew more confident, especially with added encouragement from the people passing by each day.

"When I was actually painting there were a lot of people coming through, they were always very positive," Clarkson said. "It made me feel good. It helped me keep going."

Among his other murals in the stairwell are a version of The Big Duck in Flanders and the Unisphere at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

For Desiree Melo, Jamaica's acting postmaster, the murals transport her to the places depicted.

"It's like you're living it," Melo said.

Postal Service distribution clerk Wendy Tyson wasn't surprised Clarkson had been chosen for the project.

"Richie is a good person," said Tyson, who has worked with Clarkson at the Springfield Gardens office for the past 10 years. "He's very helpful to everyone in the station, and he always comes in with a smile on his face. Anything you ask Richie to do, he's willing to do for you."

Clarkson says he continues to take pride in being a letter carrier.

"Knowing that I brought people what they wanted, what they expected, what they were hoping to get," Clarkson said, "that's the good thing."

Tyson said it's more than likely people on Clarkson's mail route notice the difference whenever he's away.

"Even his customers love him," she said. "When he's on the painting detail, I think the customers probably miss him."