Go ahead and Google “murals” or “mural artist”: it is admittedly not-so-tough to peruse through pages of eye candy before you land on something that appeals. But what happens next? Here are just a few comments from clients who ended up needing our help:

“I hired a muralist but she has never worked on scaffolding before and now she isn’t sure if she can do the job.”
“I paid a muralist to come up with a design, but it totally didn’t resonate with the design intent of the space.”
“This muralist that we showed to the owner of the building ended up wanting hundreds of thousands of dollars! We don’t have that kind of budget!”
“We want something specific in our mural and we can’t find someone who can create what we envision.”
“This mural is going to be in a heavily trafficked area. How can we protect it from damage?”

To give you an example of how much “behind the scenes” work can go into getting a mural completed, we are going to share one of our projects with you: The Escher for client JLB Partners in Twinbrook, Maryland.

STEP 1: SITE ASSESSMENT & INFORMATION GATHERING
ACFA reviewed the site plans and elevation, as well as conducted several site visits to verify equipment accessibility and requirements (scaffolding, lift, water access, etc.). Meeting with JLB several times to discuss site usage, demographics, intent of artwork, marketing goals, and talking about themes and art direction, ACFA honed in on the desired style and purpose of the artwork.

STEP 2: CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

After better understanding the project parameters, including timing and budget, ACFA sourced a portfolio of 8 different artists for the client to consider.

STEP 3: DESIGN PROCESS & FABRICATION

Once an artist was engaged, ACFA worked with him to develop a design concept that would fit the client’s vision for the space. The artist came up with two different design directions and because his work has layers/dimension to it, ACFA coordinated the shipping of several sample pieces for JLB to review. JLB favored the concept below, but didn’t like that it was lacking color and wanted it to feel as though it had more depth. ACFA worked closely with the artist, offering suggestions for how to integrate color/depth.

DESIGN #1 REVISIONS: Design by David Hind.

One of the photos the artist sent to ACFA showing progress. The chicken was making sure everything stayed on track!

STEP 4: INSTALLATION

The ACFA Art Handler team unloaded the artwork from the truck after it traveled from Ontario to the DC area. The artist attended the installation to oversee, but our team was very hands-on in moving the panels and installing them. We couldn’t be happier with the finished project!