"The Spirit Of Niwot" mural

I am not fearless.  Trust me, I am smart enough to be completely  freaked out whenever the situation calls for it.  Taking on a public art mural project of this size, this scope, with these huge expectations and requirements, with so much technical stuff that I have never dealt with before, so many unknowns… I was in way over my head long before I even started.  But I never doubted that the whole mural experience would not only work out, but that it would be amazing.  And here we are, coming out the other side of a 165’, 14 week long epic mural creation with so many incredible experiences, wonderful people, extraordinary moments, wishes granted, dreams fulfilled, and questions answered with a resounding YES!

The first bit of magic in all this was the scariest.  Originally, this whole mural concept was proposed by the Niwot Business Association to Cy Hundley, Niwot’s most noted muralist and fine artist.  He has painted several murals here in town and my favorites are on the walls of the Niwot Market.  Cy and I have worked together on some very fun, complex projects and he invited me to join him in the planning process of this proposed Niwot mural.  I was excited and honored, and really looking forward to rejoining my friend in creating a mural for our sweet town.  That was January.  Unfortunately, by the time the approval process had wound it’s way through  the committees and departments of Niwot and Boulder County, the open bid process and acceptance, the color palate and sketch content approval, and the project was finally set to start, it was mid July and Cy, much in demand and already postponing prior commitments, was no longer available.  Cy.  Sigh.

At that point, I really, really, really wanted to paint this mural, my heart was 100% in it, and I knew that if I convinced the mural committee that I could handle the artistic process, I would somehow be able to make it all work.  I have experience managing large groups of talented and creative artists collaborating on major projects… so I was only a little freaked out…but I also have learned to just trust the process and that whatever I needed, whenever I needed it – would just show up.  I also knew in my heart that if I called Cy, he would be there for me, and I have, and he has.

And so, with Cy’s recommendation, the mural committee took a leap of faith and gave me the commission.  I put all of my artist friends on notice that at some point I would need them, I just didn’t know how or when.  And I took the first few steps of the mural process – prepping, priming, and plotting the major landmarks on the wall.   That’s when David Bowes appeared.  He will be the first to tell you, emphatically, somewhat testily, that he is not an artist.  I will emphatically, somewhat testily disagree.  It started simply, I needed someone to form a piece of sheet metal to cover a vent opening, to grind off some security bars over the pie kitchen windows (that’s right, don’t tell anyone, but the pie windows are no longer fort knox-ed and the only thing guarding racks of luscious home-made pies are a simple lock, security alarm, pit bull and karma…),  set up a work bench, solve a small water issue, figure out electricity…  I mentioned all of this to Dave, went off to the paint store, returned the next morning and everything on my prep list was done!!   I was so excited that I called Dave immediately to tell him that somehow, magically, the whole prep list had been completed, probably by random magic pixies in the middle of the night.  I wish I could plug in an audio of Dave’s British accent right here saying “Oh…yeah… that’s what you think, is it?”, but you can stop by the mural most days and hear him saying that line anyway…

So then Dave started showing up every day and pointing out that my lines weren’t straight and this isn’t level and that rail wouldn’t pass building code…. Really Dave?  Building code??  This is art, I can paint it however I want… but, if you are going to show up and boss me around, you might as well grab a brush and make yourself useful…

The next thing I know, Dave is pulling chalk lines and levels and tape measures and rolls of tape out of his truck box and the whole mural is now a construction site.  I quickly came to realize that Dave is a finish carpenter and exquisite furniture craftsman with an engineer brain and a perfectionist attitude who works harder than I do and makes excellent coffee.  He was immediately hired.

I don’t want to bore you with the whole list of miraculous gifts that have come along during the process, (like the little lady bug landing on the wall on the very spot I was about to make the first brush stroke of the mural…) just trust me – every day was a new perfect moment, everything I needed showed up, right down to two rainy days off when I was so exhausted I really needed to just stop and sleep.  That’s the magic.  The right people, the right ideas, the right support, the right answers…

Fast forward to today.  We are finally working on all the finish elements that make the mural come alive.   I was making a list of all the details: painting door knobs on the buildings, painting people around the bandstand, detailing the blacksmith shop, vines around the fence posts… and wishing I had 10 more weeks to spend on just the detail work) when out of the blue up rolls a little red Subaru, and out pops one of Boulder County’s most talented mural artists, Roxanna DesJardain.  I have seen her work all over the county and have admired her artistic style for a decade, but somehow we had never met.  She said that our mutual friend, Spencer Turner, had suggested that she stop by and say hello.  The next thing I know there is a brush in her hand and vines are springing up across the mural, antique doorknobs are appearing on the historic buildings and she mentions that she has a design idea for the bike that I wanted to paint in front of the antique store.  She was immediately hired.

From there, many more artists have joined us, and the end result is a beautiful collaboration of art and love and magic.

But here is my latest favorite bit of Magic du jour…  Dave -  who by now is still resisting letting me call him an artist, but is doing beautiful detailed shading and contour work on the Blacksmith Shop -  is sketching a quick design for a forge that he wants to paint into the back of the shop.  He and I are debating what the forge would look like, when up walks our buddy and neighbor, Phil.  Phil has been meandering by the mural every week or so to check on the progress.  He is an artist himself, has a gallery and tattoo studio in Boulder, and somehow both Dave and I failed to notice until today when Phil heard our discussion and rolled up his shirt sleeve, that one of  major tattoo elements on his arm is of his Grandfather, a blacksmith, wielding a hammer over a brick forge.  Tattooed.  Right there!!  On his arm!!  Seriously!!   Phil was immediately hired.  Well, not so much “hired” as accosted, and Dave and I shamelessly heisted the image of the brick forge tattoo design and painted it into the mural.

Seriously, this is how the whole mural has unfolded.   I couldn’t make this stuff up…

I am constantly in awe of the amazing gifts and lessons and people who have been a part of this incredible experience.

And now I am inviting you to be a part of it, too.

We are finishing up the mural and throwing it a party!

Our Mural Dedication Party will be Friday, November 4th, 6pm, at the Niwot First Friday Art Walk.

Which, magically, just happens to be my father’s birthday.  He would have loved this!

Please plan to join us and be part of the celebration of this magical experience.

After all, you are the reason we wanted to create this mural in the first place – to welcome you to our sweet town and show you that we are a magical place!

David Bowes - non-artist

Roxanna's Bike

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 8th, 2011 at 3:02 am and is filed under Mural Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.