Artist Journal 8-28-07 by Lauren Crymes, UCA student

Artist Journal
8-28-07
by
Lauren Crymes, UCA student

8/17/07 This was the first day that I worked on the mural. At this point the wall had already been primed and the grid had been put on as well. We began to draw figures and other features of the mural in pencil, while Morton worked directly in paint on the largest figure.

8/21/07 Today most of what was drawn in pencil had to be moved as they were off one block. This was fixed and painting on the three figures in the background. I found that keeping things in perspective was difficult because of the scale of the mural. While working on one section it can be hard to keep the whole in mind simply because you cannot see it all unless you get off the scaffolding. I also found that the acrylic paint dried fast, especially in the heat of the day. This is good for covering any painting mistakes as you paint over them. Today was also cooler, so I noticed how much working in the heat actually takes out of you.

8/23/07 This was an actual class day. Instead of painting we went into the conference room to learn more about the process of the mural. The class looked at other murals, learned how the community must be taken into account and heard, while we also saw other ways murals can be done, such as on parachute fabric glued to the actual brick. We also discussed movable murals, the times at which we could meet to work on the mural, and what we would actually start doing first.

Artist Journal 8-22-07 by UCA student Kerry Tindall

Design with grid

First sketch on wall

First sketch on wall

Mural site primed

UCA student Kerry Tindall at work

Scaffolding being erected

Filigree in sky is being drawn

Filigree in sky is being drawn

Filigree in sky is being drawn

First sketch of large arm on wall

Flying kid is roughed in as Kerry

works

Student Artist Journal
Kerri Tindall

8/13/07 Monday Scaffolding is being constructed.

8/14/07 Tuesday Meeting with teachers at Mike’s Place then met at city hall to brainstorm ideas for the dedication on the 6th of October. Several ideas, from trashcan decorating to sidewalk chalk, were discussed. Morton showed a power point presentation of the recent projects he has been working on. This seemed like a time to get to know the local art teachers and the opportunities for the children in the local area through field trips to the mural site.

8/15/07 Wednesday This was the first day of actual preparation of the brick surface that will be the canvas for the new community mural. We used a white primer to cover the entire surface of the brick sealing the surface for the acrylic paint that is being used to create the mural. The priming was not time consuming or difficult-Paint, brush, cover-very simple. We were able to get a majority of the wall completed today.

8/16/07 Thursday Returned to find the remainder of the wall completed. We did go back over any areas that needed a second coat of primer to protect the life of the mural. Once this was completed, we used a chalk line, level and tape measure to create a twelve inch by twelve-inch grid over the entire wall. We started with the horizontal lines and then the vertical lines.

8/17/07 Friday Figures were placed on the grid in the appropriate places with pencil. Morton started on the largest girl in the foreground with paint. I started laying in the horizon line in the middle ground and two other students came and positioned other figures in the areas that they needed to be.

8/20/07 Monday OH HAPPY DAY! As a young artist, you do not really want to make those “big” mistakes, yet we do. We make mistakes, learn from our mistakes, and continue. When using grids make sure that all concerned are counting from the same beginning block. I was one block off throwing everything to the right twelve inches. After taking the majority of this day correcting my error I continued with the contour drawing on the grid. This part seems to be time consuming and a process that is very tedious. I realize the importance of accuracy. Without accuracy, the composition will not be rendered, as the mural should.

8/21/07 Tuesday We are continuing to place figures on the grid. We have the three historical figures, the teacher, and four sesame street characters drawn in. We are working to complete the contour drawings of the dispatcher and conductor. Morton has the largest figure partially painted in and is working on the filigree parts of the composition. This is truly a team effort to complete what we have in less than one week.



Student Artist Journal
Kerri Tindall


A student’s perspective:

I was at the first brainstorming meeting back in February of this year and a couple of meetings since. I realize how much information is taken into consideration to bring this mural to a final composition ready to paint. With no experience in working on a large-scale paintings, drawings or sketches this mural was very over whelming. One observation I made in the initial process is that the wall is so large. When you look at the pictures on the web page or the print outs it does not compare to the large scale that the composition takes on. Morton expressed that we have to imagine in our mind on a larger scale. Even in the grid process, standing directly on the scaffolding takes things out of perspective. You can get lost easily if you do not keep an eye on the grid lines. Another observation was when the line drawings of the figures started to take place. The more figures drawn, the more you can relate to the composition as the mural that it is intended to be. Another factor that is taken into consideration is the weather. The heat has been almost intolerable last week. This week has been cooler and makes the work much more enjoyable. Over all, the hard work, the mistakes and corrections, and the learning process have been worth all the heat that we have endured so far. I am pleased at the progress that we have made and am looking forward to seeing where we are at this time next week.

Artist Journal 8-09-07

Artist’s Journal
Morton Brown
8.9.07

As of July 24th, the Conway City Council has officially approved the mural design and plans for renovation of Simon Park. Everyone involved, from City Planning and the Public Art Committee to the Office of the Mayor, City Council and the Tree Board have truly made some thoughtful decisions and facilitated this entire process with such openness and professionalism, that it has made us all look good—and me very proud.

I will be in Conway beginning August 13th (next Monday at 7am), at which time the scaffolding will be erected at City Hall. I am fortunate to be teaching three classes at UCA this fall, in conjunction to the mural, one of which will allow students to actually participate on the mural painting itself. My students and I will begin work on the mural immediately after scaffolding installation and continue through early October.

Please come by the mural site at 1201 Oak Street, see the progress, and say howdy to the mural gang. We will be onsite (guaranteed) Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8-10:30am and Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 6-9pm. I will be onsite at various other times, but I know that I and some students will be there at the above times.

During the mural painting process, I will be handing the artist journal practice over to my students. Each week during the mural painting period, one student will submit to you and to the website blog (www.uca.edu/mural) a journal and photo-documentation from his or her perspective as muralist apprentice. This should make for a very interesting analysis and documentation of the process as it unfolds.

The UCA television station, channel 6, will also be on hand (and have been present from the beginning) to document the process throughout. They are also working with me right now, in collaboration with the Conway Downtown Partnership, to place a revolving loop of video that explains the mural process thus far through images and text via a large video screen that will remain in the storefront of Ed Camp’s in downtown throughout the painting period.

Also, I am meeting with Conway Public School teachers on August 14th at the mural site, coordinated by Dr. Gayle Seymour and Dr. Deb Kuster in order to talk about how we can integrate this mural project (and potentially other types of public art) into the schools’ curriculum. I expect that many schools will either make mural site filed trips, or schedule a time that I could come talk to their classes. Either way, I am very excited about this aspect of the project as it truly extends the artwork beyond its basic goals, and connects local institutions of learning and young people—offering not only an appreciation for art, but a recollection of the City’s history and people.

Two upcoming dates for you to mark on your calendar:

August 30th, 7pm at UCA, McCastlain Hall, room 143 (lecture hall next to Baum Gallery) : Artist Lecture on the Conway Community Mural Project

And—keep the afternoon of Saturday, October 6th open as we hold our Conway Community Mural Dedication Celebration in Downtown Conway! We are planning an afternoon full of music, family activities and talks by the artist, UCA faculty and Conway city officials. Open and free to the public-come join our celebration of your new mural!

Lastly, I would like to offer a special thanks this week to our partners who have made an extra effort within the last few weeks to get this project off the ground:

Office of the Mayor: Felicia Rogers, Jamie Gates and Mayor Townsell

City Planning/Tree Board: Bryan Patrick and Wes Craiglow

Conway Downtown Partnership: Amy Reed

Conway City Council


Thanks as always.


Morton Brown
Artist in Residence
UCA
412.901.1546 cell
Bromorton@gmail.com

Final Mural Design

Artist Statement
Morton Brown

As part of University of Central Arkansas’s Centennial celebration, I was commissioned to bring to Conway a public art process that I helped create in Pittsburgh, Pa. in 2003. Over the past months, I have had the wonderful opportunity to engage Conway residents, UCA faculty and students in a dialogue—in person and through email and blogging—around this collaborative mural project.

UCA has brought me to Pittsburgh on two occasions to lead community dialogue sessions around the mural project. Many invitations went out to residents and students and newspaper articles helped draw over sixty attendees to my first visit on February 15. At this meeting, held at Don Owen Sports Center in Conway, I led a brief tutorial of images of murals from around the world tracing my personal experience from Clinton, Arkansas through Philadelphia and Pittsburgh then launched into a brainstorming session in which over sixty community members and students of all ages voiced ideas of subject matter for the mural. All ideas were recorded, placed on the mural website, and emailed back to the community group.

After the initial meeting, I traveled back to Pittsburgh and began working on the design in response to the ideas generated by the community. Students, faculty of UCA, and community members helped me research images of Conway’s history as I worked on the design over the course of about six weeks. Each week, I delivered a design iteration along with an artist journal via email to the community group as well as faculty and students of UCA that had signed up for the list. I received feedback through email and the online blog throughout this process that was very helpful in keeping the collaboration going throughout the design phase.

On April 12, I traveled to Arkansas once again to present my preliminary mural design and lead a discussion with the group, asking for feedback, comments and suggestions. I also met with the Conway Public Art Commission, Conway Public School teachers, Boys and Girls Club, and displayed the design as part of the UCA Senior Thesis Exhibition where I also solicited feedback.

From this exercise, I went back to Pittsburgh and made many (somewhat minor, detail-oriented) modifications to the design. The design I present here is the culmination of many hours of dialogue with Conway community members, research (even the Native American costume on the little girl is accurate to the indigenous Caddo tribe), and my artistic sensibilities superimposed upon my much-beloved alma mater.

In the proposed design, the bright future of Conway rises out of a deep respect of the city’s history. The children that reside in the lower left corner of the painting are playing inside a large model train diorama. These children at play—their toys, costumes and actions—reference different periods of Conway’s history while speaking to the idea that our future and past are linked—new generations standing on the shoulders of our forefathers.

Model buildings represent the three main colleges in Conway, as well as public schools, a farm, and the old train depot. From left to right, the buildings are The Little Green School House (Conway’s first public school), St. Joseph original school building, Hendrix College (Old Main), The Pine Street School (Conway’s first African American public school), Central Baptist College (Old Main), a toy farm (representing Conway’s growth from an agrarian society), The Arkansas Normal School original building (now UCA) and the Conway Train Depot. The model railroad town is very small in the design, but in the actual mural-rendered in 2 foot scale-the details will be quite visible from a distance, but also will draw the viewer in for closer inspection. In the community dialogue, we decided that it was very important to relate the mural to its site-the old Conway Train Depot, its proximity to the still-functioning railroad tracks, and its current use as a city park.

In our community brainstorming session-the meeting in which Conway residents and UCA students voiced their ideas for the mural-it was agreed that education has played a large role in the founding and perpetuation of culture and commercial sustainability in the city. Therefore, the focus of the historical references is largely on educational institutions and figures.

I depicted the children playing dress up-wearing costumes that represent the passage of time through key archetypes from various important periods and/or ideals from Conway’s past and present. For instance, there is a child in a train conductor’s hat in the lower center of the picture who holds a model train engine from the Little Rock & Ft. Smith Railroad of the early 1900’s. To the conductor’s left, there is a child in Native American (Caddo) garb that speaks to early inhabitants of the area, and Conway’s proximity to the Trail of Tears passage. Further to the left is a ballerina, symbolizing the growth of arts and culture in the city. The child laying the railroad tracks is dressed in garb taken from a photo of a Conway Train Depot dispatcher from around 1905. The figure in the center, atop the knoll is a teacher, delivering her lesson to her favorite toys. The teacher’s “students” are her favorite Sesame Street characters that are educational in nature, and allude to AETN in Conway. The largest, “flying kid” is the future-draped in a cape made from an Arkansas Traveler quilt, and slightly turning into digital pixels as she heads off into the new day. The models used for the conductor, teacher and train dispatcher are children from Conway’s Boys and Girls Club. On the far left, are three of Conway’s prominent founding historical figures. From left to right, they are Col. Asa Robinson, founder of the City of Conway, Florence Mattison, Conway Public School educator associated with The Pine Street School, and James John Doyne, founder of Arkansas Normal School, now known as the University of Central Arkansas.

I have adhered to the words from the community that this painting should represent the town’s history, but depict Conway as a progressive city, providing a sense of the new and moving towards the future. The pixilation in the sky starts to do this, but in the last stages of the design I brought back design cues from an earlier design that incorporated a filigree pattern from the art nouveau movement in the early 20th century. The sky is now filled with this filigree design that, now abstracted in large scale, becomes a sense of energy, “sprouting” new growth, and makes the whole painting more of a contemporary, progressive work of public art. It also helps place the three historical figures in the correct context—they are not creepy figures looming over the horizon (as was my earlier concern), but they are from a different time than the rest of the cast of characters, and all of the action that is taking place in the rest of the painting is literally stemming from their shoulders.

To date, there have been four articles in the Log Cabin Democrat, two articles in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, an article in The Vino (UCA honors College newspaper) and two articles in The Echo (UCA student newspaper). UCA students have collaborated with me to produce a website and blog that documents each phase of the project, down to design iterations, historical reference images and artist journals.

I believe that this project has transcended its function to create a piece of public art. It has already brought community members of disparate interests, backgrounds and people of all ages together in dialogue around art-when, I dare say, there would likely be no other cause that would gather these together in this way. Public schools, after-school programs and other civic groups are already gathering and planning to participate in onsite lectures, demonstrations and hands-on activities associated with the painting of the mural this fall. Some are planning to work with UCA Art Education students and develop mural-making lessons as part of a curriculum. There have even been discussions around the Conway university community in forming a partnership that will make the mural dedication ceremony into a city-wide celebration of activities.

I am so pleased to be a part of this project, and I look forward to seeing it through to completion.

Thank you,

Morton Brown
412-901-1546
bromorton@gmail.com
www.uca.edu/mural

Artist Journal 5-11-07

Design 5-09-07

Art Nouveau Poster

Design 2: Filligree

Artist’s Journal
Morton Brown
5.9.07

Since the time of my previous journal entry, I have been making the modifications to the preliminary design that were suggested at the community presentation on April 12th. If you will notice, however, I have two design iterations to present to you today for your consideration and feedback. The first design has very minimal modifications that came from our last meeting. At the community’s request, I have loosened up the cape on the flying kid and changed the colors of the quilt under her chin from brown to blue so that it no longer resembles some sort of snake. I have also opened up the fingers on her left hand to further take the image of the snake’s head away. I have removed the UCA logo on her shirt. I have chosen to keep the pink glasses. I have looked at many other options, but have kept these as they make the most sense conceptually and visually.

I have also added the three portraits of children from the Boys & Girls club in the conductor, the teacher and the businessman laying the railroad tracks. The electronic image may look a little dark to your eyes, but rest assured that their features will be more visible in person and at real scale. Also at the request of a couple of community members, I researched some local Native American tribes and found a ceremonial “Turkey Dance” costume used by the Caddo, who are indigenous to the area around Conway. I feel that this colorful costume is a vast improvement over the more generic, previous version.

It may also be hard for you to see the slight alterations I have made to the sky in the e-version, but I have but some yellows and pinks into the area just above the horizon in order to imply a new day dawning. The painting needed some pink to help the flying kid’s pinkish hue fit properly. These are the suggested changes that I was able to work in to the design. There were some other comments that I received that were really challenging, however, and have enticed me to offer some suggested changes to the design. See Design 2: Filligree.

Please take a deep breath and study this design before you react. It is a vast change, to be sure, but I am really excited about. Let me tell you why. I have shared each of my design iterations with friends of mine in Pittsburgh, New York and Philly. I know that the Conway community knows itself better than anyone from elsewhere, but consider that these people are looking at this with fresh eyes—they represent the visitors and new residents to your community. Most of the feedback has been positive, but a lot of people have been very uneasy with the three “pioneer” figures on the paintings left side: Robinson, Mattison, and Doyne. I considered removing them altogether—and that would in fact, “fix” the problem. The relationship between public schools, universities, industry and history are already in the buildings and the dress of the kids—we could do without our three pioneers…but I wanted to keep them--for posterity’s sake, if nothing else.

The other thing that gave me pause is that some community members were referring to this mural as “parochial”—possibly only seeing this as the usual type of mural laden with historical figures in a utopian landscape, and not considering some of the artistic liberties taken to make this painting dynamic and challenging. It is dynamic, but is it challenging? It is dressed up like a historical mural, but by the overemphasized scale of the flying kid, the curvature of the earth, and the pixilation, it indeed does leap into a contemporary work of art. But-can it leap further?

So-I was presented with a two-pronged dilemma: The pioneers are scaring people and no matter where I placed them in the picture plane, they seem out of place and a few persons don’t feel that this painting is progressive enough for Conway. Again, please refer to Design 2: Filligree. I went through about a dozen iterations to get to this one, but I think I am at a final place.

The pioneers needed to be placed in the past. I changed them to a sepia tone, but this was confusing within the existing picture plane. I added a strip of the Art Nouveau poster design from my original mural design from February to set this picture in a picture panel in the past, but also forming sprouting plant forms rising out of the shoulders of the pioneers. I wanted to place rising plant forms into this mural from the very beginning, and now they were back. Once I placed these figures inside their sepia panel, the composition was unbalanced. I tried more panels over the other figures, but nothing seemed to work. The last attempt (that was suggested by a friend) was to take the plant forms out of the rectangle, and see how they would work as free-floating objects. After a few tries, I found that I was making skywriting out of them—they became scribbles, energy and movement from the past into the future—a visual effect in the painting that stems from a very old motif, but by stretching, cropping, cutting and pasting becomes a very new, progressive and bold stylistic choice for this mural.

I am very excited about this design, but I need to hear from you before I present this as the final design to the Conway Public Art Commission. Please take a moment to consider these images and deliver your feedback either on the website blog www.uca.edu/mural, or by direct reply to my email bromorton@gmail.com, or call me at your convenience at 412-901-1546. I want and need to hear your comments before I can present this design.

I will need to deliver the final design to the Conway Public Art Commission by May 20. I will not present a final design without a good majority of the community’s support, if not a good consensus. I would ask you all to comment on this design as soon as possible so that we can move forward in the process.

Please note: the filigree design is made by computer program, and therefore, some small anomalies might be perceived. Please try to use your imagination in those instances, and know that if you approve this design, I will complete the design in paint for my final presentation the City officials.

Thanks as always.


-Morton

Artist Journal 4-20-07

I have just completed my second trip to Conway--during the week of April 12th--in which I presented my preliminary mural design. With help from UCA faculty, invitations went out and a meeting was held on Thursday, April 12th at 7pm at the Circuit Court Building in downtown Conway.

In this meeting, I presented my design, walking the group through each part, explaining the historical references and symbolism throughout. I was very quickly amazed at the thoughtful and positive criticism that I received from the group. Everyone present took a turn offering suggestions, comments and compliments. Once the comments had subsided, I closed the meeting by thanking everyone for their time and letting them know that I would consider their suggestions and offer a final design by the end of May.

The next day, Dr. Gayle Seymour (of UCA) and I presented the design to the Conway Public Art Committee at City Hall—the very site of the mural. This committee was gathered by Mayor Tab Townsell as part of the new Conway Public Art Resolution that has made a clear-cut and transparent approval process of planning, creating and installing public art in the city of Conway. Just as I was pleasantly surprised by the candor of the community meeting the night before, this meeting also surpassed my expectations.

Having created and run a community mural program in Pittsburgh over the past four years, I have had many opportunities to work with that city government and navigate through its approval processes. I have to say that someone in Conway is doing something right. The public art committee made it very clear that they were to represent the citizens of Conway, and wanted to go over the suggestions made at the previous meeting and discuss my plans to accommodate those ideas. The committee members were very kind, bright and organized. We discussed at length (as three of the committee members had attended the previous meeting) all of the suggestions and comments that were brought up at the community meeting. I spoke about my plans to make some of those changes, and reasons why some of the suggestions would not work from a design and content perspective.

We concluded the meeting by agreeing that I would deliver a final design via email to the community group and the public art committee by the end of May. Upon satisfactory receipt of the design, the committee would then present the design to city council along with their endorsement. We would then begin painting in late August.

I wanted to share this story with you so that everyone interested can understand the process that your city officials have made, and to offer my glowing endorsement of it. Thank you all once again for your continued support. I will deliver the final design by the end of May, 2007, and look forward to begin painting by the end of August. I am very excited about this project, and believe that it will be a lasting landmark and source of pride for Conway for many years to come.


Regarding the design changes, following are notes from the Preliminary Design Presentation:

Cloud shapes (meaning in the shapes?)
Question of the tree
Turn the cbc building to see the towers better
Quilt bothers people (looks like a snake chocking her)
Have it flying out behind (or above to take up space in the sky) with her hands holding it
Picture of the child is the focus and takes away from the rest of it
Size needs to be scaled down
Glasses? (tone them down, change the size or shape, seem too goggle-like)
Agreement with the size of the girl drawing you into the mural
Facial expression shows excitement/anticipation of the future
UCA symbol on the shirt is on the wrong side for a monogram
Boy playing with the engine seems like he’s coming out of her leg (change where the quilt is to bring a definite break between the two figures)
Show UCA as a purple stuffed bear being taught by the girl
UCA shown three times and all the other schools only being shown one (is it more important?)
Make the hill go up higher on the left to fill up more of the sky (enlarge the land)
Sky takes up more than half Or move the land up on the right
Is the little girl going to stay as ghostly/undetailed?
(some agree that she should stay out of focus because she seems off in the distance) Turn the baton into a ruler
Make sure to include something (text panel) to explain the meaning behind the mural
If the hand didn’t hold a quilt in the right hand there could be something
Hold a ribbon stick, kite, airplane something that could contain the quilt pattern in it
Bring the land up on the right side and bring the pixilation down into the land
Is happy/uplifting
Putting something in the right hand would take focus away from everything else because it would take up room
Use a clothespin or something to hold the quilt together at her neck

In response to these suggestions, I would just say at this point that all are under consideration. Gene Hatfield made many astute observations at the community meeting—specifically, the comment he made about the snake-like and “choking” nature of the quilt-cape was very helpful, and therefore, I will most definitely re-visit that. The pink glasses…well…I am still considering those comments.

I am also going to finish out some of the children characters. I will add “real” portraits to all of the children’s faces, with the aid of photos taken of Boys and Girls Club of Conway members. The Native American child will also undergo some changes in dress that will make him/her more historically accurate with some helpful research provided by Professor Morales of UCA.

I had a wonderful time in my last visit, and look forward to my stay in Conway this fall. Please watch for a final design by the end of May.

-Morton

Artist Journal 4-2-07

Artist’s Journal
Morton Brown
4.3.07

The design is near complete. Since the last iteration, I have re-worked the flying kid portrait, and added some features to the landscape. I have completed the quilt pattern and have connected it visually to the landscape. In the lower right side, I have removed the historical figures of Col. Robinson, Florence Mattison and James John Doyne and placed them on the left side. Now, they are watching the children at play and complete the chronological progression from the past to the future across the picture plane.

On the ground where they once sat, is now an imagined aerial view of the land around Conway, complete with a cotton field, flooded rice paddy, and freshly tilled field. At the suggestion of a Conway community member, I also ran the railroad off into the right hand side of the picture to form a “crossroads” near the children that leads off into the rural area.

I have refined the play area, as well. I have shifted the color of the ground to a more earthy tone to balance the more pinkish portrait of the flying kid, and added shadows and details to the toys and figures to pull them into focus. The conductor has denim stripes on his hat and clothing, the ballerina clearly defined, and the last of the buildings have been placed and tightened up. The buildings are, from left to right: The Little Green Building (Conway’s first public school) St. Joseph’s (will be replaced by its school building), Hendrix College (Old Main building), The Pine Street School (Conway’s African American public school), Central Baptist College, a barnyard, The main Normal School building (UCA’s origin), and the train depot(s) sitting on either side of the tracks as they once did near the mural site itself.

In this final week before the presentation on April 12th, I will finish the train model in the hand of the conductor, the school bus in the hand of the ballerina, and make some final touches where needed.


Thanks again for your continued participation and support, and I’ll see you next week.

-Morton