Detail of the new mural

Folks at the ribbon cutting

Thank you to everyone who came to the ribbon cutting for the new mural at Mercer Park Aquatic Center! The mural, a colorful cityscape, is made of Lexan™ panels with interactive moving parts inspired by STEAM topics (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math). On the upper panels I drew downtown Iowa City with the Courthouse, Old Capitol, and Clock Tower. I also painted the sun and moon, and a mosque, synagogue, church and temple as I saw people feeling safe to play.

The mural was a collaborative project — I worked with artists and engineers from the University of Iowa College of Engineering NEXUS Program, Iowa City Parks and Recreation, and more members of the Iowa City community. The ceremony program (shown at bottom left, click to view larger) gives special thanks to some of the people most involved, and this article in The Daily Iowan does a great job of describing the collaboration:

• Iowa City to unveil mural celebrating art, technology

I’ll show more of the process of making the mural in future posts. As my artist’s statement says, “For me this was a gift to celebrate joy and playfulness and to be creative during these disturbing times of suffering. Creating art is meditative, reflective and helps ground me. I experienced a sense of oneness with the Mercer family and the Iowa City community that gave me a sense of grace and solace.”

Update:
See the August 2018 Newsletter for “Behind the scenes: Making the Mercer mural”

Program from the ribbon cutting,
plus a few extra thanks
(click image to view larger)

With co-conspirators
Whitney and Grace