MURALS
Over the last few years, my colleague/creative partner Jared Applegate and I have been painting murals during our semester breaks. We have also started teaching a class to work on public art projects with students. We have enjoyed the opportunities we have been given to work outside of the classroom on these collaborative community projects. It is important to us to use design thinking strategies like interviews and surveys before we start planning a design. If you are interested in having a mural painted by us, please send us your ideas via the form on the Contact page.
Boys & Girls Club of Fort Wayne
Toward the end of 2023, we met the kids at the local Boys & Girls Club. There was a big empty wall in their E-Gaming Room at the club, so we held a co-creation session with them. We photographed the blank wall and printed out the photo, then asked the kids to draw and color in what they’d like to see on the wall. We did our best to compile all of their ideas into one composition. The most rewarding part of painting this mural was when the kids saw their ideas painted into the design.
*This mural design won a Silver Addy Award at the Advertising Federation of Fort Wayne’s 2024 award show.
Horace Mann Elementary School
In the fall of 2023 we worked with Horace Mann Elementary School to come up with a design for the 60’ long white wall in their sterile school cafeteria. We surveyed all students and teachers at the school to find out what they love about their school and then used their comments in the final design. Since they are known as the Huskies we definitely wanted to get some huskies on the wall. Their school colors are at the beginning and end of the wall, and then the illustrations throughout are almost like a Where’s Waldo for the kids to look at every day during lunch. We tried to get as many of the kids’ ideas on the wall as possible. There was even a day the art teacher sent down students to learn about the process and help us paint. It was a really fun project to work on!
*This mural design has been nominated for an Arts United Outstanding Artistic Endeavor Award.
Branding Mural at Brooks 1st
During our spring break of 2023 Jared and I spent a few days down at Brooks Construction to liven up one of the stairwells they use every day. They had four words they wanted on the walls but gave us some creative freedom with how they were presented. At the top of the stairs there is a big number one that is a scaled up version of the one in their logo. The top and bottom of that one continue down the stairs in red. Keeping everything in their brand colors, we illustrated some of the equipment they uses alongside the requested wording.
MLK Jr. Legacy Mural on Ivy Tech Campus
During the Fall 2022 semester we worked with two students on the MLK Jr. mural in the Student Life Center. The mural was originally designed and painted by our VISC students in Fall 2016. After six years we decided the mural needed an update. We kept the same message as the original concept but updated the design and repainted it. With his MFA in drawing, Jared is excellent with portraits, but the texture and deep spacing between the tiles on this wall made it difficult to do a clean portrait. He was able to posterize Martin Luther King, Jr. to achieve this result.
*This mural design won a Best in Show Award at the Advertising Federation of Fort Wayne’s 2023 award show.
The Art This Way Unity Mural Downtown
This mural was sponsored by DeBrand Chocolates and organized by Art This Way. It’s located on Harrison Street between The Landing and Promenade Park. In early 2022, there was a national callout to paint this space and we were asked to apply. We sent in a proposal for a design and ours was chosen. We painted it in late summer 2022 with the help of some of our trusted students and friends. Before it got too cold, we were able to complete the four main walls that have a montage style and include many favorite places in Fort Wayne. A few more walls in the area will be painted soon to complete the project.
The Club Room at The Clyde Mural
This is the first mural we did together. In early 2019, the Clyde was preparing to open a new restaurant called The Club Room. They wanted a large mural on the main wall that you see when you walk in the door and they asked Jared if he was interested in painting it. Jared asked me if I’d like to collaborate on it with him and then together we made this montage style design using iconic pieces of art history and simplified images of a few of the musicians that have performed at The Clyde. We enjoyed painting it during our spring break in March 2019 and didn’t realize at the time that it would lead to more murals down the road.
