Color and sun pour in from above to fill this Mediterranean subterranea. Inviting visitors in, these luminous spiritual gardens at the entrance to Palo Alto Medical Foundation are a guiding light from the grayer underworld of the parking garage.

Flowing auspiciously, crystal waters meander silently through lush passages. An array of ancient Spanish tile fonts offer a vitreous rainbow of healing touchstones. Layered throughout these vast lit chambers will be symbols and subtle visual poems, telling stories of untold truth and love, and of our connective humanity.
 

Concept Sketch Enlargement, (120K)
Painted Sketch Enlargement, (69K)

Joseph Werner of One Voice Arts and Leadership Program commissioned me to develop this mural design/concept for the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, California. This piece entitled Reunion depicts an 'Earthwell' room gathering of distinguished scientists and astronauts, all of whom are alumni of NPS.

Eloquently Earthlit in blue, these great leaders of space exploration stand in metaphoric orbit. Large printed images of the Space Shuttle, Space Station, and Apollo serve as a gallery backdrop, and NPS satellites bookend the room.

Conversing to Earth's left are Gene Cernan and Alan Fuhs. Above the Atlantic, Dan Bursch, Rudy Panholzer and Brig Agrawal are debating about the dark side of the moon. Rudy is saying, "Ask Gene, he was on the moon last". Dan has been at the party and in space the longest and seems to be leaning a little too much into some gravitational pull. Two of the astronauts, Mike Smith and Willie McCool were lost in shuttle disasters yet attend the reunion posthumously and in great spirits.

Artist Mark Molchan refines the concept to the next level as seen in the second image. He's responsible for translating this piece into a finished painting template, ready for the youth artists to execute. Giving credit where it is overdue, Mark is an extraordinary artist, he's painted with me for many years and I consider him a good friend. If you have looked at a lot of my work you've looked at a lot of Mark's work. Thanks Mark.

Youth artists from throughout Monterey County will participate in this final mural project. One Voice Arts and Leadership Program is an organization which has not only beautified communities with murals but has also provided the youth with team-building skills, bonding, and a pride for their community. This translates into productive citizens and members of the communities in which they live. For more on 'One Voice Arts' visit: www.co.monterey.ca.us/workforce/index.htm
 

Enlargement, (123K)  Layer Map, (32K)

Chapters of American history unfold in wall layers with this epic ride across the continent. The centuries clink by like time zones, from Eastern Time to Pacific Time. Our equestrian story begins with a night ride in Boston, to a sunset mail route in the canyon lands, and arriving on the afternoon hills of Lake Norconian. In this case the sun rises as we go west and into the present, on our long journey into day.

Norco is a city that celebrates country living, horse trails and American heritage. This particular trail takes the town on a tour into the 'twilight zone', and passes through a quilt that is woven by the townsfolk of all these cherished things.

This Freedom Trail spawns the birth of a nation, heralds the westward movement, and homesteads the here and now. Of course the west may have been won for some and forever lost by others, yet this trail does carry forth our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. These rights include our freedom of speech, of choice, of belief. Exercising free expression, the Freedom Trail unlocks the confines of normal time and space, so that we can experience many dimensions at once.

If the world was created in seven days, then we've got the country (and town) whittled down to one. Putting the path in this perspective allows us to experience the Gestalt. We can draw a deeper breath of the country air, sit by a fuller hearth flame, and sing with our ancestral family whose tree is forever green.

For this is the Freedom Trail and it knows no bounds. Saddle-up at the trailhead and ride off into a different kind of sunset. It's a trail that has been blazed as pure as rain by the heart and soul of this community. And you're invited.
 

Full Mural Sketch (detail above)

Perhaps the title Totem best describes the overall 'dimensions of life' concept explored in these murals. As a project for a high school auditorium, these pieces investigate both educational and traditional sides of life.

On the 'closest' surface, an exhibition of vintage photos surveys the many layers of early Alaskan life. At this level we view chapters of early settlers/families and their land. There's something about looking into the life-sized eyes of children that would now be 110 adds poignancy to the story.

The framed photos start to billow and metamorphose into curtains. As curtains, they are drawn to reveal two theater stages. Looming in the darkness one of these presentations - the DNA double helix - characterizes life itself, while the other bay houses an ancient Greek colonnade: a temple of science, philosophy, and the arts.

Reaching up like totems, the Doric columns support a ceiling fresco of Mycenaean flying fish. As the capitols touch this membrane of life, the upper portions of the columns are illuminated with greater clarity - as if the contact with life defines their substance, or even their existence.

The colorful double helix model is the ultimate totem. The sequence of acid strands is paralleled to the sequence of spirit animals that define specific clans. These are both the building blocks of life. This hybrid of science and mysticism is an apt symbol for an Alaska steeped in a traditional world as well as a new one.

A chasm between two buildings reveals a journey into Boise's past. The outer layers segue the modern fabric of the new Boise Tower with the older sandstone of Boise City National Bank.

The inner brick facade consists of old establishments including the Hip Sing Building—an early meeting place for the Chinese community. Another layer is the top pitch of a teepee, an important part to any American story. As the centerpiece, the large cottonwood gnarls and pierces outward through the facades to expose these layers of Boise's inner-self, providing us a direct intimacy with the past and aspiration for the future.

Mural Enlargement, (126K)

Before the ranchers and after a handful of trappers, the early pioneers of Gunnison Valley were the miners. For over a century hardy frontiersmen searched for gold, silver, and copper by recklessly extracting the ore from the earth. Great mineshafts and railroad tunnels were burrowed often at a cost of human life and a devastated landscape.

Revealed here in a tunnel vision we find a mother lode far richer than the one miners sought. Leave-filtered from a lightwell above, a greater gold is discovered. The only deleterious side effect to this vision of nature - Gunnison's truest treasure - is the broken window below, in which is trapped dance performer Ashley Kellum.    Detailed reference photo of woman in window, (64K).
 

Enlargement, (140K) Detail (red background), (101K)

This light-filled "space" is designed to provide healing energy. As waiting patients contemplate the orb sculpture, they visually wander into the lighter marble shapes discovering that the inner core creates the image of a family group. Continuing to explore they will also notice the subtle patina shapes of earth geography on the bronze surface.

Next, being drawn into the metallic / translucent background leaves the viewer stumbles into subtle images of people as they mysteriously emerge from sparkling haze. Noticing all the ethnic diversity in this cloud of humanity invites the viewer to explore the concept.

And there is plenty of concept: The family is metaphorically at the center of the world – even the glow of the blue sky seems emanate from the inner core of the family sphere. Then, like branches from a tree of human diversity, the leaves unite our differences like connective tissue. A natural progression from this idea is that humanity is really a large global family: that all men and women of the Earth are brothers and sisters.
 

Erie Canal Project

A large packet boat dramatically protrudes from a 10 story State building to create a compelling monument to the Erie Canal. Key historical figures, such as French engineer Vauban and Governor DeWitt Clinton will be peering from the weighlock building windows. The composition will also include illusionary bas-relief work chronicling the history of the canal and a tile mosaic sun design.

 

With multiple levels of deception, this mural depicts 'the secret scenes behind the scenes'. This mysterious and covert operation behind the 'illusionary facade' includes a passenger train and a meteor core fragment, which are significant to Winslow's history.
 

This train station movie set—along with a real train—provides provocative questions about levels of reality.