Practical Painting
I read in interesting story in my local newspaper (Washington Post) about a teenage artist who had painted a 4 x 21 foot mural at his high school as a reaction (and with encouragement from his art teacher) to the assassination of President Kennedy. He was 17 at the time at The Washington Lee School. As John Kelly's article states, typically high school murals are painted directly on the walls and do not survive renovation. Luckily and wisely, Jon Friedman, the muralist painted his mural on sturdy paper. When The Washington Lee School was torn down, the mural was removed, stored and reframed and reinstalled in the new building. The…
Empire State Building
Look up! The ceiling murals of the Empire State Building’s Lobby are being restored. Bill Mensching and Jeff Greene of EverGreene Architectural Arts are at it again. I first read about their work when I discovered who was doing the mural restoration at the US Capitol. This company is inspirational — a decorative finisher’s dream job, especially one like me who loves art history and restoration. Afterall, I was headed down that museum track of exhibition design long before life chose a different path. I’m certainly happy with what I’m doing but I constantly look for ways to combine art history with actual art production. I shouldn’t alert you to…
