How much does this all cost?

Recently we were contacted by Arts at Michigan who gave us the good news that we had just qualified for one of their Course Connections grants. This $1000 grant will go towards the cost of permanently installing the finished Mural in Palmer Commons. The actual cost of installing the mural hasn't been tallied yet, but we know that this grant will go a long ways towards helping to cover these costs. It got me to thinking that perhaps folks would be interested in knowing what it really costs to create a mural of this size (approximately 17 by 75 feet). My able administrative assistant in LHSP, Ruth Marsh, has tallied the cost of paint, muslin (the material we are painting on) and other miscellaneous supplies, (such as tape, primer, brushes, containers, etc.) and the grand total comes to $1,986.49. Where does this money come from? Well, amazingly enough, not only are our eleven students giving the mural to the university (and the greater public) to keep, but they also helped pay for most of the production of this mural through an additional lab/studio fee of $150 per student, above their tuition. So, not including the overall university cost of running the class--paying for staff and faculty, studio space, etc.--we will end up just about $350 shy of being able to cover the expenses directly related to the creation of this marvelous piece of public artwork. Where will this money come from? Just a minute, I've got to call Ruth again.......but seriously, just to put these expenses into perspective,  if this kind of artwork were to be commissioned professionally, the cost would have been prohibitively expensive for the units involved to cover--similar projects that have been created for other buildings on campus (granted they are usually paying big name artists) generally cost tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars. 

So, thanks again to Arts at Michigan for coming forward to help us with this unique project. And special thanks to my students for giving so generously of their talents, time, effort, and...yes...their money too.

The Beginings of a 3rd Panel

 

Students have been working on panel 3 for about a week now. So far, it is just as large and turning out just as nice as the first two. A lot of faces and humanness in this one. I think this is an end piece so some of the colors are more muted in this one compared to the last panel which I am assuming was the center. This one's not dull, but just has more neutral tones overall which is probably from all of the humanness I was talking about. There is still a lot of white space, though, so it's hard to say yet.

Next Friday, I believe, the mural will be installed. Thanks to my unlucky finals schedule (last one isn't until the 20th...so late!) I will be around to see it. I still haven't gotten around to taking a picture of Palmer Commons where it will be installed. Maybe I will this weekend to make use of my new camera (my Black Friday splurge which I am loving so far).

Also, it's Tashina's birthday today (and also Britney Spears's -- I heard that on the radio) so make sure to pay special attention to Tashina's work including her huge baby face in the far corner as well as listen to some Britney Spears for old time's sake.

-Dora

 

"Less White"

Mark says "less white" should be Art in Public Space's new motto. It seems to be the reoccurring goal when it comes to mural progress. As you can see, students have been achieving it. Mark was also able to remix the mysterious shade of purple that Simi has been trying to remake - that must be a relief.  The painting of the purple lady can now continue.

We also had a guest come in today, Toni Auletti, with some words of wisdom. She told students that the faster they worked, the better their work would be. She also suggested covering all white spots with at least some kind of wash before leaving the room today (even if it's in underpants colors, as she says!), also reinforcing the "less white" motto. Maybe that can be a new technique used for panel 3. They'll be starting it soon enough! It looks like panel 2 is nearing completion. 

I'm going to try to take or find pictures of the space where the entire mural will be installed and post those later to get a better idea of the size and everything. It will be a fun surprise for everyone seeing how the panels will look when set next to each other. Soon enough.

-Dora

    

Just to set the Scale...

As you have probably realized, this mural is massive. Here's a picture just to emphasize that some more. Mark plans on having this segment of the mural finished before or around Thanksgiving. We will see...

In earlier posts, Zach and Simi mentioned how Mark and the rest of the students were discussing the importance of a joint effort, or stylistic unity, or however it was put. I'm not totally sure because I wasn't actually there, but I think student's have done a really great job at creating a cohesive work. The styles seem to flow in and out of each other with ease. It's apparent that a number of different hands were at work, but where those separating boundaries end and begin is pretty ambiguous - which I think is a positive thing. It means the students are really in sync with each other and instead of being a bunch of individual paintings forced together, the mural becomes a collection of interwoven paintings complimenting each other to create one united piece.

-Dora

Mural updates

Another week of progress. Here are some photos of Friday's work. I would have had them up sooner...but due to a crazy weekend of massive paper writing, I never found the time. I figure better late than never!

I know Mark's student's had a great time in Detroit last weekend. They went to the Detroit Institute of Arts and visited a sculpture-garden-esque ensemble of work from a particular artist. Seeing all of the art forms probably stirred some inspiration in them.

-Dora

   

Color matching can be more frustrating than you'd think...

the purple lady

On Friday we spent the first hour and a half of class having a discussion about our work and art in general (if you're interested, Zach posted some of our discussion questions below.) While the discussion was good for our group to have, I was very restless to start painting. However, earlier in the week I had used up the main color of the purple lady I've been working on for this piece of the mural. So, in order to start painting I had to recreate the color from scratch...yeah, that didn't go well.

Painting is very much a release for me. I love the freedom a brush can give an artist. Sometimes unexpected things can result from the strokes of the brush and they make a piece even better, it's amazing. But for the first time since we started actually painting, I hit a point where I had to completely walk away from my work and go accomplish something else to get me back to a good place mentally. The perfectionist in me was so frustrated at myself for not being able to do what I thought was something so simple, just mixing up a new batch of paint to match a color I'd already made before. I was actually surprised by how worked up I got.

This class is teaching me patience, though. And just as importantly, to also try to balance my ego and inner critic, which is something I'm not afraid to say I struggle with sometimes. Having a bad day in the studio perhaps isn't the worst thing, and having a setback every once in awhile can maybe motivate me to have a super productive day next time I head in to do some work. I'm happy with where we're at as a class on our piece, and I look forward to coming closer each day to our goal of creating a work of art that's worth sharing with others.

- Simi

First Class Discussion

Very interesting start to class today. We all sat down in a circle and began to reflect on the mural so far. Mark brought up the fact that we shouldn't allow OUR work to become more of an individualized project. We don't just want to feel like we painted this face, the apple, and the box over there. On top of that, it seems like some of the more unexperienced painters are shying away from painting the most prominent and detailed parts of the mural. As a group, we should all feel like we played an important role in the mural.

After discussing what we should change in the process of making the mural, we drew questions out of a bucket that Mark prepared. I think it got everyone thinking a lot and we had a great discussion. There was much talk on whether or not the mural has meaning, which has been brought up many times before. I've listed some of the questions below, but I wont share many details. If your curious on how we answered the questions come to the grand opening event.

-Zach


What does it means to be an artist?

What does it "feel" like to paint?

Who should see this mural and why?

Does the mural "mean" anything?

What does it mean to collaborate creatively?