This community mural was commissioned by the Durham Parks and Recreation Department. Local residents asked for a design that reflected the three main sports played at the park (tennis, soccer, and baseball) and the age, race and gender diversity of the people using the park. They also asked for all four walls to be incorporated, and for a bright but cohesive color palette.

Durham Public Art Office reached out to me in late fall 2018 asking if I could help them out. They had a project at a local public park, but the artist they initially contacted refused to comply with the project requirements. The project placed a lot of importance on community feedback, which I was happy to work with. The residents requested a design that was colorful and cohesive, referenced the sports played at the park and was inclusive of all age, gender and race groups. This was an interesting challenge, as the design had to be both representative and abstract. I chose to use patterns and color blocks to fill in the silhouettes and create connections between them. For materials, I opted to use spray paint as the walls of the bathroom facility were made of rough cinder blocks painted with oil paint and had a lot of texture that I didn’t want to fight with a brush.

The mural took 3 weeks to paint using Montana 94 spray paint. It is an excellent quality paint, easy to control, lots of color options, good coverage and durability. I used yellow universal caps form SprayPlanet for most of it, they worked great for both lines and fills. This is the largest project I completed so far.