Mural Mondays
Seeing some of Summer’s Bounties
Are you enjoying the bounties of fresh summer vegetables and produce? Here’s a realistic mural in downtown Wilmington, OH that depicts just this. I like its appreciation for community gardening and it’s realistic quality. It reminds me of some of the murals you might see in Philadelphia (a whole other post will be coming on that later). Or if you don’t have a garden and it’s too hot to grow produce, here’s another “cool” solution — a succulent mural in Pasadena. Both projects help to beautify their neighborhoods. The succulent mural was the second commissioned piece of artwork as a part of the Neighborhood Enhancement Mural Program but unfortunately, the…
Giving it Up for the GSA…
…and other federal artistic watchdogs, like the “florist-in-chief.” What does this mean? Well, firstly, there was a fascinating article in Washington Post that describes how the GSA (General Services Administration — a federal watchdog agency) is on a hunt to recover “lost” artwork from the Depression, which was created as part of the WPA (New Deal Works Progress Administration), to help artists have employment and document historical art. At the time, the government paid artists up to $42 a week. This was a large amount back then and a life preserver during our nation’s worst financial crisis. Over 20,000 works of art were created in response. The value of these…
Capital Oriented Murals
Happy belated 4th of July! With this Monday being a federal holiday, I think it’s fitting to do a post on historical murals, some of which are in state capitol buildings and capital locations. First up, murals by Barry Faulker at the National Archives. When you click on the links, numbers appear to help identify all of the figures in these murals. This is a very interesting site to learn about the restoration of these historic murals. This mural is in progression in DC (federal capital city) on the exterior of the Foggy Bottom Grocery. I’m not sure what it is depicting but it may be finished by now. The…



