Fond du Lac Murals

The Fond du Lac Downtown Partnership issued a call for muralists in early 2025. The project is, in essence, a mural park behind several downtown businesses. Eight muralists were selected for the project. I was chosen to complete two murals over the course of May, 2025.

The first was a 45' x 10' wall behind two businesses. The mural site includes three doors, four windows, and is comprised of smooth and split face cement block. The building owners requested a "sampler" of Fond du Lac images and asked that "Fond du Lac, Wisconsin" be included in the image. I designed a photo "spray" of images that I thought encapsulated the beauty and people of the city. These included bike path signage, the two popular fishing species in Lake Winnebago, a 1925 post card from Fond du Lac, wildflowers, and the park gazebo. I wanted the sampler to retain its integrity if the doors were open, so those were designed to include photo booth pictures through the last century and intended to depict the 50's to 60's, 80's to 90s', and the 2010s.

Colored pencil design sketch presented to the committee for the large mural.

Original sketches for the large mural. Note, I was asked to change my original design for the bike path from a county sign to one of the newly installed signs in the city. Therefore, there is no original art for that portion.

The second mural is behind the 8' x 14' rear wall of a diner. The surface was originally vinyl siding. The building owner asked for a nostalgic theme, particularly focusing on classic cars. A secondary ask of all muralists was to consider adding interactive elements. To that end, I designed a "Rebel Without a Cause" style drag race theme with two cars facing the viewer and a large racing flag positioned so that a person could stand in front of it and look like they were starting the race. After examining the site and showing the owner that the vinyl siding was already cracked and broken in several places, she decided to tear down the vinyl and reinsulate the building with new masonry board siding, making for a much more suitable painting surface.

Colored pencil design sketch presented to the committee for the smaller mural.

To be clear, I have not painted a mural since I did a dragon breathing fire on a fence near an attraction of the Detroit Area Renaissance Festival in the early 90s when I was 17. As I am now three times that age, I am not sure I had completely considered the physical rigor of painting large pieces outside while often on a ladder. Additionally, I have since learned that the level of detail included in the above pencil sketch is neither time-feasible nor necessary on a mural. I am emerging from this project a far less naive painter.

I will describe the actual painting process as it went down in the next post.