City Council votes to restore iconic arts center mural to original design
The Bloomington City Council voted to preserve the original design of the 'Creating Together' mural at the Center for the Arts during an October 2 meeting. The decision ensures that the beloved community landmark will be restored to its 2007 appearance rather than redesigned.
The council's vote affirmed a previous decision to maintain the mural's original artistic vision as it undergoes restoration work. Erik Pearson, the artist who created the mural 17 years ago, presented details about the project to council members.
Pearson explained that the mural depicts characters from different artistic disciplines working together—a dancer, actor, singer, painter, and ceramicist—to represent how the various arts organizations in the building collaborate. "Each character is sort of helping the other character with their profession, kind of showing how all the art organizations are connected and kind of help each other out," Pearson said.
The restoration became necessary due to sun exposure. The mural faces north and east, causing significant fading, particularly in the black areas. "It definitely needed a restore work," Pearson noted. The original contract for the mural included a clause requiring the project to be revisited after 10 to 15 years to assess its condition—a timeline that has now been reached.
Beyond its artistic merit, Pearson highlighted the mural's practical importance to the community. "Big murals are wonderful because they can be these wayfinding, placemaking devices," he explained. "People can say, go to the big turquoise building with the mural on it if they don't know what this building is, because it becomes sort of that visual landmark." The restoration is projected to extend the mural's lifespan for another 10 to 15 years.
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Votes (1)
Restoration of 'Creating Together' Mural
Artist Erik Pearson provides an overview of the mural's history, its conceptual design to connect various artistic disciplines within the building, and the physical reasons (sun fading) necessitating its restoration in 2024. He highlights the mural's importance as a 'wayfinding, placemaking device' and a visual landmark for the community. The restoration follows a previous vote to maintain the mural's original design.
Notable Quotes (4)
The name of the mural is Creating Together. The design idea was supposed to take characters from different artistic organizations within this building and have one character represent each one. We have some ceramics going on. There's a dancer, there's an actor, there's a singer, and there's a painter. Each character is sort of helping the other character with their profession, kind of showing how all the art organizations are connected and kind of help each other out.
It was always built into the contract that the mural would last 10 to 15 years, and then we would revisit the project and see how well it's holding up. And then it was voted that they wanted to keep it the way that it was originally, which is great.
It's facing north and east, so it gets hit by the sun quite a bit. So it got some fading, especially in the black areas, which I'm covering up right now. So it definitely needed a restore work.
I think that's why a lot of big murals are wonderful because they can be these wayfinding, placemaking devices. So people can say, go to the big turquoise building with the mural on it if they don't know what this building is, because it becomes sort of that visual landmark.
Ordinances & Resolutions (1)
The original agreement for the mural, which included a clause for revisiting the project after 10-15 years.
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