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The Web resource will feature frequent updates on a current case study in action. Award-winning Philadelphia muralist and Rescue Public Murals Adviser, Meg Saligman, has just begun work on Fertile Ground in Omaha, Nebraska. The mural is being funded by the Peter Kiewit Foundation and coordinated by the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, both based in Omaha. Spanning 22,000 square feet on the east wall of Energy Systems plant on North 13th Street between Cass and Webster Streets, the new mural will be one of the largest outdoor murals in the country and the largest public art project in the history of the city.
Fertile Ground depicts Omaha through history and the photo-realistic design was inspired by extensive interviews with the city’s citizens and current and historic photographs. The figures in the mural were drawn using Omaha residents as models.
In planning the project, Ms. Saligman consulted with the Omaha-based Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center on the particular challenges of the Nebraska climate, such as intense sunlight and wind, which could cause the mural’s paint to fade. She has also been working with faculty and graduate students at the Winterthur/University of Delaware Art Conservation Program on the stability of mural paints and coatings. The University of Delaware testing to date on Sherwin Williams Sher-Cryl paint indicates that it is less prone to fading, and so Ms. Saligman selected it for this project.
Julie Reilly, Associate Director and Chief Conservator of the Ford Conservation Center, and her staff will photo document the mural’s creation. University of Delaware faculty members Richard Wolbers and Joseph Weber, along with graduate students Amanda Norbutus and Laura Kubick, will receive samples of all the materials used on the project to conduct further research on them. Some examples of these materials include a specialty non-woven polyester fabric, which will be used for a portion of the mural and adhered to the wall using an acrylic product. As the mural nears completion in 2009, the University of Delaware collaborators will advise Ms. Saligman on the best protective coating for the mural, something that has been a particular focus of their scientific research. Further testing and documentation of the mural as it ages will provide important information on the durability of the murals’ materials and will help inform other muralists.
Rescue Public Murals is guided by a team of Advisers that include some of the leading muralist and mural conservation experts in the United States. Tracking the progress of the practices used in creating Fertile Ground will be Rescue Public Murals Adviser Dr. Joyce Hill Stoner, Professor of Art Conservation and Director of Preservation Studies at the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation. In addition, Will Shank Rescue Public Murals’ Co-Chair will share information on the project with the Getty Conservation Institute that is conducting research on modern paints used in contemporary art. The Head of Contemporary Art Research, Dr. Thomas J. S. Learner as well as Cassie Myers, Senior Project Specialist and Leslie Rainer, Wall Paintings Conservator of the Getty Conservation Institute serve as Rescue Public Murals Advisers.