In February 2017, we had the wonderful opportunity to paint a mural installation for the Cultural Alliance of Western Connecticut’s Accessible Art program. The Accessible Art program makes the work of regional visual artists accessible to new audiences by arranging exhibitions throughout the year in a network of Danbury-area commercial and municipal venues.
Our mural was installed at Hodge Insurance Agency on Main Street in Danbury. Taking “insurance” as inspiration for the exhibit, we designed the site-specific mural, You Have Options, which speaks to the way insurance protects different segments of our lives, and is a visual play on the title of Richard Nelson Bolles’ famous book, What Color is Your Parachute?
We also created a “portable mural” companion piece for the project, which was exhibited on a wall adjacent to the mural. Entitled, Lift, this 4-foot-square work consists of four birch panels which together make up one larger image. To accentuate the organic beauty of the wood grain, we chose to work with natural materials such as water-based wood stain and old-fashioned milk paint. The goal was to make the painting as eco-conscious as possible. Paint has a reputation for being somewhat toxic, and with Lift, we wanted to show that completely non-toxic materials can be used to create wonderful effects.
