Creating a mural

Courtesy photo Because of the curve in the wall, this photograph has a slight distortion. This is the 15x17 mural painted by Cadillac artist Charles Thompson on the wall of the newly renovated Charlevoix Public Library.

CADILLAC - Charles Thompson competed with 80 other artists for the commission to paint a large mural in the lobby of the new Charlevoix Public Library.

After the library board narrowed the field down to four, they asked Thompson to submit a design based “loosely in the WPA style” incorporating the history of Charlevoix.

Thompson said the style they requested was the same style he used in his previous mural work, a style developed during the depression when the government created the Works Progress Administration to keep the visual arts from disappearing.

Thompson studied the history of Charlevoix, focusing on 1927, the year the building that would house the new library was built.

“From what I'd read,” he explained, “Charlevoix was a resort community with a lot of Chicago big money. So most everybody in the image is engaged in some form of recreation rather than working.”

After his design was approved, Thompson scanned it into his computer piece-by-piece. Each figure, he explained, is a separate icon that was printed onto a transparency. The individual icons were then projected onto the wall.

Working 10 to 12 hour days, Thompson said it took three to four weeks to complete the job.

“It was almost like a jigsaw puzzle,” he explained. “I assembled it piece by piece using my designs as a blueprint.”

The bottom edge of the mural shows buildings in Charlevoix that have been there since the 1920s. The top is a seascape, showing Lake Michigan and the lighthouse.

The mural was funded by donations to the library and was not part of the renovation budget. Thompson said response to the work has been so positive that he might return to do more work.

news@cadillacnews.com | 775-NEWS (6397)