In January, 2007, the
January-February: Announcing the Project
UCA mural project committee, led by Gayle Seymour, announced the plans for the UCA Centennial Mural Project in January, 2007. The announcement was in regard to the advent of the mural, the artist in residence, and the need to garner community stakeholders for the upcoming community brainstorm session in February.
Media press releases, postcards, targeted email blasts, UCA newsletters and students placing flyers door to door worked in tandem to raise the awareness and the maximum amount of participation from the community.
February 15th:
On February 15th, at 6pm, a community brainstorming session was held at the
The top 10 idea headings generated at the brainstorming session were:
- Importance/Influence of Education on Community: Historical & Present
- Mix of Technology & History-Visual Cues for Mural
- Site Specificity/Relate mural to its site
- Transition/Transformation of the community
- Family-Oriented city
- Industries/Past and Present
- Progression of Culture in
- Growing Diversity
- Natural Amenities
- The Future
February-Mid April:
The Artist will work collaboratively with students and community members to gather images of historical figures, architecture and events that were noted in brainstorming
Artist, UCA students, and faculty will work with local public schools, creating and managing curriculum units that will allow school groups to add a lesson on mural-making and potentially connect them to the UCA Centennial Mural
Artist and UCA faculty will create and manage an interactive website that will post the community brainstorming ideas, regularly updated preliminary sketch iterations and journal notes from the artist, comments from community members, and other information regarding upcoming events around the mural project
Mid-Late April:
Presentation of preliminary mural design to community group (time and place TBD): All interested community members are invited for open discussion
May-July (as needed):
Artist makes any final modifications to design, sends it to UCA faculty for presentation and distribution
July-August:
Announcement of the final design: A media blast will occur at this point, announcing and presenting the final mural design and plans for the mural kickoff event. The UCA mural committee (and UCA students) will facilitate raising awareness of the final design and the advent of the mural by producing media press releases, postcards, targeted email blasts, UCA newsletters and students placing flyers door to door.
Prints of the design could also be displayed at this time in local shops and offices along the business district, as well as student unions and appropriate venues in local universities and schools.
Mural painting period: Before the mural painting begins, a kickoff event will be held at or near the mural site in order to help raise awareness and generate enthusiasm about the mural. UCA faculty an students, civic leaders, and the community at large are invited to attend and speak where appropriate.
The mural will then be painted over the course of a 4 to 6 week period. Actual duration of the mural painting period might be affected by weather and other unforeseen delays.
UCA students will be engaged as much as possible in the mural painting period. The artist will make a presentation to students about archival mural paint and practices, design transferal techniques, and rudimentary scaffolding uses.
A group of UCA students will assist the artist in the actual mural painting. Duties of the students (supervised by the artist) will include pressure washing the mural surface, priming the surface, gridding and limited sketching the design, some painting of the design, and applying the clear varnish over the completed mural.
The Artist will also engage other school groups in leading on-site discussions and some on-site work when feasible
Mural Dedication Ceremony: A dedication ceremony will occur upon the completion of the mural, and will offer an opportunity for the artist, the students and the UCA mural committee to formally present the mural to the
A final media blast will occur as in the other two stages of the process. As in the kickoff event, local civic leaders, the artist and UCA representatives are invited to attend and speak to the public at large.
Get Involved With the
We invite you to get your students and/or clients involved in our process, as we plan to hold discussions and demonstrations at the site itself while the painting process unfolds. You are welcome to schedule a field trip to the site and learn about the mural painting process first hand.
Also, we are actively seeking input from students at any level for the mural design. One way to engage students would be to ask them to draw or paint pictures that could be transferred into the mural design. Integrating youth drawings into a mural is visually interesting, but also can symbolize the hope for the future.
Ask your students to draw pictures of “An Image of what they wish to be when they grow up”, or have them depict “A futuristic scene of
We would also like to receive nominations for a small child (age 5-10), male or female for inclusion in the mural. If you have a child that you think would make a great “actor” as a portrait of the “future of
Any questions, concerns, suggestions or information can be sent to:
Morton Brown
Artist in Residence
(412) 901-1546 cell
bromorton@gmail.com
Contacts/Resources
For more information, process examples, images of murals and mural-making, please visit or contact some of the persons or organizations listed below.
Gayle Seymour
Professor of Art History
Interim Associate Dean
College of Fine Arts & Communication
(501) 450-3295 tel
Sprout Public Art
(412) 325-0646 tel
(412) 325-0647 fax
1729
215.685.0750 tel
215.685.0757 fax
SPARC
Social And
685 Venice Blvd
Venice, CA 90291
310.822.9560 tel
Nova Color Paint
(310) 204-6900 tel
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