Shipping Container Mural
I don’t have a before/after for you, just the after, but this shipping container did not look pretty. It had been tagged so much that it was hard to guess its original color.
Jayson Johnson is the Director of Operations for Groundwork Richmond (GR). He and I had been talking about finding funding for Groundwork Richmond’s Green Team to paint a mural here in Richmond when I had an idea: to use the small amounts of paint left over from a previous mural to paint a small mural in early summer. Jayson pointed out that the shipping container that holds some of their equipment could use a “makeover.” The staff at GR planned a one-day painting activity with music and food for the month of May, and that’s how the challenge began.
One day beautifying events, also known as “Playmaker” grants are very popular these days. Even though the funding is awarded months before, planning efforts center around the day when scores of community volunteers converge on a neglected park with an improvement agenda. Weeds are pulled, mulch is spread, old equipment gets a coat of paint, bushes are trimmed, and trash is collected. Sometimes, if there is more money or if good coordination has taken place, new equipment is installed and trees are planted.
Murals are usually a part of these events. Artists are contacted with the understanding that the design has to work with these constraints. That is, it has to be simple enough that many people can work on it with minimal direction, but complex enough that it can keep them busy for several hours. It needs to be colorful, and most of the time, related to the area’s themes or culture.
Our container was not part of such a grant, but the constraints were the same. My approach was to outline the design in black beforehand. This took me four days working three hrs a day. Once this was done, I prepared a special paint mixture that would highlight brushstrokes and the rough metal texture of the shipping container. I added medium to the leftover paint amounts, and mixed some new colors. The final prep step was to prepare a color design to make sure we would have enough paint for the whole thing.
The original design.
The actual mural was of course much brighter colored than the colored design, specially in the sun. On the actual painting day, we had about seven youth and five adults show up. Pre-mixing the colors helped quite a bit, and having color printouts of the design ensured no one got confused. I am sure it was a very fun day for everyone who was involved. A million thanks to Andrew Avina, Lorena Castillo, Jayson Johnson, Megan Lamb and Caleb Turner from Groundwork Richmond!
I took this shot when it was almost finished. Can you see the parts that haven’t been painted?