RUTHERFORD — As American Dream prepares to open, the unappealing and much-derided rainbow pattern of what once was "Xanadu" will finally disappear.

Most of the multi-colored rectangles have been covered with sleek white paneling, but the indoor ski slope, which juts out from the rest of the mega-mall, still features patchwork color scheme that local officials have compared to stacked shipping containers at nearby ports in Elizabeth and Newark.

"It looks like New York is dumping on the Meadowlands all over again, sending their empty containers from the ships and piling them up here," New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority Board Member Armando Fontoura said of the previous design in 2008.

But not for long. A Canadian artist collective has been tapped to cover all three sides of the offending appendage with a massive mural and local artists are being asked to help design it.

North Jersey residents who wish to participate in the design can do so at workshops to be hosted by the William Carlos Williams Center.

The mural, to be created by Montreal art collective En Masse, will cover the exterior of the mega-mall and entertainment complex's indoor ski slope, the last portion of the development that still features the much-derided patchwork color scheme from the project's original design.

En Masse was tapped by American Dream's developers to organize the mural with the community's input. The collective will host the second of two workshops at the Williams Center on Friday, Aug. 23, from 1 to 6 p.m.

Jason Botkin, director of En Masse, said his group is here to "facilitate a conversation within the community about something made for the community."

Participants at the workshop need not be Rembrandt, said Wayne Narucki, a spokesman for the Williams Center.

"More than their artistic ability, they want their ideas," Narucki said of En Masse's goal in local participation.

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Residents will be asked to draw on a single large canvas, answering the prompt: what the American dream means to you.

"How does this national ethos relate to the lives of each participant in very personal ways?" En Masse asked in a press release for the event.

While aspects of what residents draw may appear in the finished mural, En Masse will design the finished piece using the public's concepts more than specific imagery, said Collin Millington, a Williams Center trustee.

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Up to 20 more workshops are planned in the state and New York City. Botkin said the events will reach as far south as New Brunswick.

"It's got a fairly wide reach," he said.

The group is also in the process of picking a handful of local artists to work on the final design. Some may be chosen out of workshop groups.

En Masse will begin with a smaller mural on a wall of the complex that faces MetLife stadium in September and plans to complete it close to American Dream's Oct. 25 opening.

The second phase will commence as Botkin alone will paint all three sides of the ski slope, a process he said will take about three months to complete, from spring to summer 2020.

Email: Katzban@NorthJersey.com