September 30, 2006: Meeting Minutes: Great Mural Wall of Topeka

images in todays post comes from the safe street website.



David presented some pictures of some of the murals that he has done as in Lawrence, Kansas. He suggested that we go to the library and get pictures of some of the things that were in the material that he presented. Items such as books, information about Topeka and other items. We need material to refer to so individuals can start considering what should be in the mural.
He presented some slides showing how some students developed a mural in their area. The youth were about 15 to 17 years old and they were working out a design for their heroes. David then takes the material and turns it into a design. He stressed that he really needs an assistant preferably from Washburn University to help him pull things together.


David stated that when you have the design done then you make a grid on the wall. In some cases you can use a projector to put the design on the wall but generally he uses a grid. A grid is prepared on paper then a scale is developed in order to enlarge the picture to fit on the wall. He has been using mostly High School age students for this part of the plan development. Once the mural is on paper and the grid is developed he can decide what needs to be changed to fit it on the wall. When this is complete the picture is then transferred to the wall through the grid that has been placed on the wall.
David indicated that our wall needs to be power washed and he prefers to be present when this is done. He will check to see if the wall is smooth with no cracks or holes. The height of our wall will not be a problem. It was recommended that we might consider a hydraulic type of scaffold and possibly the scissor type. The draw back of this type of scaffolding is that it will not let us put but just a few individuals on it. It would be better to use the four-poster with wheels as it provides a greater walking platform and more painters can be on it. We will need lots of wall boards. David starts the painting process by putting down a background color first then layers the mural on top of this. He mixes the paint for the painters as needed. The Kansas City mural was painted by mostly middle school student’s ages from 11 years to 14 years old.