Special Projects - page two

 This is the largest work of art I have created. The City Center was a new twin tower building in downtown St. Petersburg when I was commissioned.  One tower was 12 stories the other 4 stories, between the two us a fabulous glass covered atrium.  I was asked if I could create a work of art that would be installed on the largest wall in the atrium.  The two towers are connected by a walk bridge in the second floor and fourth floor as you can make out in the photo below.  I created a work of art that consisted of 22 different canvases. Each canvas a different size and also a different depth out from the wall so if viewed from the side it has a sculptural effect.  The piece went from the floor to 42 feet high at the top of the last canvas. The article is dated May 24, 1985.

It was a challenge to install the work.  I enlisted my older brother Bill and a very close friend Gerrit van de Steeg to help me out. It took a lot of scaffolding to get up 42 feet but we were able to get the entire work of art installed without any mishaps.

Me hamming it up after installation.

Another large mural I created about the same time (mid 80's) as the City Center work was a 4 foot by 20 foot mural in the newly renovated McNulty Station.  As with the City Center artwork I constructed and stretched each canvas, I constructed a large canvas for this work also. I actually made the large canvas on site, then installed it on the wall before painting.  The McNulty building was the home of the first Fire Station in St. Petersburg around the late 1890's. It was also a warehouse for the train station in Downtown St. Petersburg which was right across the street.  The train station had been torn down decades ago but the warehouse remained and was used for various businesses.  Starting in 1982 completed in 1985, a huge renovation took place which basically rebuilt the entire three story brick building.  A great story about this mural after the photo. 

The principle occupant of the new building was the McNulty Banking Company. It was decided that a mural of the St. Petersburg train station, painting in circa 1910, would be a great way to honor the first use of the building. The first artist commissioned to create the mural backed out way late in the game. The bank's grand opening was in three weeks when I was contacted and asked to do the artwork.  Of course I said yes but with the caveat that I might not have enough time. The very next day I immediately started by building the frame and stretching the canvas and started to prime it. At the same time I went to the Historical Museum and found several postcards of the train station from 1910 to 1913.  I went to work and composed the sketch for the piece using two different angles of the building.  I did that so I could show a train at the station.

I worked all day into the night 7 days a week but it became clear I would not completely finish in time. The bank's grand opening was a gala event with over 500 guests attending. So I came up with the idea that I could provide some entertainment by working on the piece during the opening night event. It worked out great. I was behind the teller line where the mural was installed and painted on it while the guests mingled in the main lobby.  

The grand opening event was also a fund raiser for the 'Make a Wish' foundation. To me, here is where the story gets really cool. At one point the president of the Bank was watching me paint on the train engine. I was painting a number on the side of the engine and he said that he just had a thought, his wedding anniversary was coming up and could I make the engine number the date of his wedding.  Of course I said sure and painted over the number I had just put up and painted in the date of his wedding. 

Well that information spread and another gentleman came up to me and asked if I could paint his wedding date in somewhere.  I thought for a second and then brazenly said, sure if he contributed a hundred dollars to the Make a Wish foundation.  A hundred dollars was quite a bit back then so for a second I thought I over stepped but he grinned and said sure.  I emptied a glass jar I was keeping my brushes in and he put a hundred in cash in the jar.  After all it was 1985 and people still carried cash.

After that several people came up to get a significant number on the mural.  Every tag on each car is a milestone date for someone.  There were several places on the train I used also. On one of the cars I painted the graduation date from Auburn University.  I painted the date and the AU logo next to it in the Auburn colors.  That guy was really happy.  All in all I raised close to a thousand dollars for the Make a Wish foundation painting in dates that night.