Train Station Mural

Things have been quiet around the blog for the past week, but there are some good reasons for that.  First of all, my part of the table project is on hold while we deal with some equipment repair or replacement.  The building's belt sander is still broken, the person who was repairing it had to be hospitalized (not because of us), and the back up sander that we thought we had turned out to be broken as well.  Looks like we may just have to buy our own.  (meanwhile, I stopped by the Studio the other day and saw that Molly has begun doing some design work on table tops, so the time is not all wasted)  Second, a vicious late summer head cold came roaring through me starting last Sunday.  There were a couple of days I never left my apartment and was in no condition to do any building if I had.  And third, school starts next week, and on very short notice, I had the class I've taught over two dozen times taken from me and replaced with one I've never taught and just a few days to scramble and figure out the facilities, come up with a curriculum, etc.  None of these situations are good, but the combined timing could have been a lot worse.  I'd rather be recovering from a cold in the week leading up to the semester than suffering through one on the first day of class, and not having the woodworking hanging over me this week gave me time to work on the school preparations.

Last night there was an opening reception in Belmar for a painting themed show, which I naturally declined to enter.  The side gallery had a little temporary show of all the mural proposals that had been received, including some artist statements.  Those in attendance could vote for favorites.  In the end, a committee outside the BAC will make the decision, but the results of that vote could influence their opinions.  I figure that means these proposals are now all public information, so I may as well put my piece up on the web.

Interested artists were given a tiny scale diagram of the wall surface, about 8' tall, over 80' long, wood paneling, with many interruptions of vertical wood beams, doors, windows, and signs, all of which were to left alone.  (the top photo shows one little piece of the wall)  At first I didn't worry about that, just collected stories and visuals.  Eventually I'd have to deal with this unconventional canvas, and it was almost enough to get me to give up, but so many others were struggling that extensions were given.  Finally I finished the first version above, a black and white compositional breakdown.  It was a bit grubby from all the pencil erasing, so having made sure I had a little more time, I redrew the whole thing on a fresh sheet of paper and colored it with watercolors.  The white spaces all throughout are the architectural pieces that are off limits.

Here are some details of different parts of the whole thing, reading from left to right.

Since the mural is on the train station building, I decided that a train should be part of it.  I had considered going with a more historical train, but I couldn't find much in my research, and figured a modern diesel would be a lot easier for the mural team to paint than all the complex shapes of a steam locomotive.  This image came from squatting down on the platform in Belmar and photographing it in exaggerated perspective as it rushed into the station.  The road signs seemed like simple transitional shapes that would echo the surrounding architecture.  Past that a neighborhood of a kind of house I associate with Belmar and other shore towns- large, traditional, with lots of balconies and large porches for enjoying summer days and nights.

The houses, with all the windows, doors, and porch spaces, also were hoped to have interesting relationships to the various doors, windows, etc scattered across that area of wall.  I continued the rhythm of the angled roofs and station architecture into tent awnings and signs of the Belmar Seafood Festival.  It's the town's biggest single annual event, but it hasn't been celebrated in any town murals yet.  Plus, we were told to think about diversity, and this fair is a model of diversity;  just about every culture represented in New Jersey has seafood tradition, so people of every age, ethnicity, and race show up to eat and enjoy the summer weekend.  

A sign, door, and takeout window pretty much isolate the last piece from the rest of the wall, so no need to worry about transitioning.  My last story was the first idea I had, fishing.  People have been going out on party boats from the marina (just a block from the train station) for generations and that hasn't changed.  Growing up, fishing was always one of the highlights of my own family summer trips to Belmar.  Plus, the large scale boat is meant to balance against the train on the far left.

We had a big crowd yesterday, and many votes were cast, though no counts were done, and I still have no idea when a decision will be made.  When I know something, I'll post it.