Studio Maelstrom was selected this term and has just completed it's first commission. Here is the story of how it happened, the people who made it happen, and the people who loved them.
Strata Wall Mural
My first public art assignment was to develop a wall mural to be installed on the Main Street wall covering the abandoned construction site colloquially known as the "Downtown Hole".
Previously, the Boise City Department of Arts & History had been coordinating with local community groups to create message-based murals for the highly visible site, such as the mural seen above, painted by Boise Women's and Children's Alliance. It was determined that the city no longer had the resources to coordinate these temporary installations, and thus, the wall became the location for my first on-contract public artwork.
The design was developed, first, through a series of sketches combining sinuous lines, shapes, colors, and patterns. From the beginning, I wanted the presentation of the work to read on a number of different levels. I transposed imagery from chart data concerning the price of metals mined in Idaho, with cross-section diagrams of human skin strata, drafting hatch patterns, solar system imagery, and even a nod to one of Boise's most enduring urban legends: Chinese tunnels underneath downtown.
The final design concept was developed in Illustrator CS3. Certain elements, such as the sine wave line work and a few of the long flowing lines were first drawn in AutoCAD - a program I am much more proficient in than Illustrator.
Finally, the design was incorporated in a presentation board used to introduce my design concept to the City of Boise's Visual Arts Committee - a very supportive and encouraging group of people. The concept narrative on the board reads as follows:
"One of Idaho’s most prominent and valued natural resources is one that lies mostly out of sight. The Gem State’s vast agglomeration of metals, minerals and gemstones, has formed the identity of this state since its incorporation as a territory. Idaho’s capitol city, Boise, lies in the bed of an ancient river valley replete with layers of sedimentary rock beds and natural geothermal springs.
Strata, a mural proposed for the boundary wall along the Main Street side of the former Boise Tower development, seeks to bring our hidden underground identity – above ground – and to present a new way of seeing it.
The 147-foot long barrier wall lends itself nicely to the long, horizontal lines which are the most noticeable feature of the design. Views of the work are many and varied – a front axial view from across Main St., an acute view on foot or by car approaching along Main St., near-field views on foot, as well as distant views through various road and walkway axes. Strata is designed to be appreciated and interacted with from these various vantage points.
Strata is a cross-section of the natural underground environment, cut, raised, and augmented in an effort to delight, inform, and inspire Boiseans and visitors alike. Boise’s unique natural environment is reflected in a new way, celebrating that part of the city’s (and state’s) identity that lies below.
The fluid curves that dominate the work are meant to reflect the natural wind and water processes that formed the sedimentary rock layers under Boise. The shape of the lines are also derived from graphical data about the various rock, metal, and mineral resources in Idaho. For example, the dominant black wave running the length of the mural is derived from graphical data illustrating the value of gold and silver (relative to the dollar) since Idaho’s statehood. The vertical bands inside the black wave illustrate the spectral graph identity for these elements. Every shape, color, and relationship in the piece is reflective of, or generated by, a metal, mineral, or rock important to Idaho’s identity.
Strata is also meant to convey the critical relationship between the familiar above-ground world, and the foundational environment below. Trees, grasses, hills, and mountains are all highly-valued elements of Boise’s natural environment – valued because of the immediate relationship people have with them. This mural is designed to remind the viewer that these elements are merely the above ground extensions of an environment that extends all the way “down” to the core of the earth.
The mural also incorporates subtle comparisons between the underground environment and humans’ own biological “strata”. Human skin diagrams have been used as a basis for rendering certain portions of the work, as were other medical diagrams.
The mural’s size has also provided opportunities for close-scale interaction. A series of epoxy resin “bubbles” or “gems” or “eyes” will be mounted to the surface of the piece, each containing imagery or artifact from the past, or from underground – adding another level of interaction with the piece. The resin shapes are meant to be looked into like a crystal ball, revealing a miner’s face from the 1800’s, a rusty bolt from the Stibnite mine, a picture of the Eastman building, etc"
The design concept was approved at the first meeting, and I promptly began transferring the line work to my primed boards.
Did forget to mention that I had ordered, primed, and numbered the boards in the mean time? Lesson #1 for working on large murals - start early!
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