Building the City Science Mural
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At left, spilled
coffee adds color to one of muralist Thomas Melvin’s
early designs for the City Science Mural.
Early sketches like this one allowed the artist
to try out many different combinations of subjects
and compositions.
The artist’s notes include the following voicings
of how city life is made possible by and, in turn,
affects the natural world: pipeline, truckload,
light switch, how do we impact water, people to
people relationships, power-water.
Early ideas that didn’t make it into the final
mural include a parent holding a child, a person
in a bath tub, and a large group of people all reading
newspapers. Click here
to see an enlarged view. |
How did the Thomas Melvin create City Science Mural?
What were the steps that he followed? Read more about
this process below and be sure to click on the images
to see the creative process up close.
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Brainstorming
The first step in creating the mural was to brainstorm
what might be included in the mural. The artist
had several meetings with Museum staff and also
looked to books to support his research. Thom used
the book A History of Chicago Public Works
to make a list
of structures that help every city. |
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Measurements
Early in the process, the artist visited the site
to take measurements
of the space to be painted. Although the Museum
originally planned for the mural to cover only a
small part of the wall, Thom convinced the Exhibits
Director to cover the entire wall. |
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Design
and Composition
Thom worked through many designs for the mural before
he settled on a final composition.
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Field
Work
Once the artist had determined the objects to be
in the mural, he made some photographic
studies of some of the objects to model
them. Using models is an important way to accurately
draw and paint the many objects in a mural.
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A
Colorful Model
To get the colors right, Thom produced a full-color
small-scale
painting of what the finished mural would
look like. |
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By
the Grid
Many artists use a grid
system to move from a small draft of
the mural to painting the real thing. |
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Final
Product
You can see the final product by visiting the Peggy
Notebaert Nature Museum in person or
by viewing the Zoom
page on this site. |
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