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OMAHA MURAL PROJECT: THE BEMIS CENTER ANNOUNCES ITS PARTICIPATION IN AMBITIOUS PUBLIC ART EFFORT

WHAT: The Omaha Mural Project’s “Fertile Ground”
WHO: Muralist Meg Saligman, the Bemis Center and the Peter Kiewit Foundation
WHEN: In Progress with a June, 2009 completion date
WHERE: Energy System’s Building, 13th and Webster Street

Omaha, NE (July 14, 2008) -– There are over 800,000 stories out there. This is one of them. But it’s also so much more than just a single story in a metro area whose population is fast approaching the million mark. That’s because the Omaha Mural Project’s “Fertile Ground” by internationally acclaimed artist Meg Saligman will reveal almost 50 real-life Omahans in telling “our story.” Add touchstone historical references that layer intergenerational levels of depth and the giant 22,000 square foot mural, one of the largest in the nation upon completion, becomes a compelling narrative that defines how we think about our past, present and future.

The 70-foot tall and 328-foot long mural on the east wall of the Energy Systems building near 13th and Webster Street will be the largest public art project in the history of the city and is a gift to Omaha from the Peter Kiewit Foundation. The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts is administering and site-managing the project. Its prominent NoDo location makes the mural, which will be finished by the summer of 2009, a stunning backdrop for visitors to the Qwest Center and the soon-to-be-built ballpark as it also acts as an oversized welcome card to those entering the downtown area from the airport.

“Meg was selected because she is one of the top muralists in the country and Omaha deserves the very best,” said Bemis Center executive director Mark Masuoka. “She’s known for her almost maniacally extensive research (the artist spent hundreds of hours in Omaha exploring its people, history and values) and for her ability to coax the very essence of who we are out of the subjects she interviews and later represents in the mural,” he continued. “And ‘Fertile Ground’ will tell a great story. Our story.”

The Philadelphia artist explains that the multi-layered mural refers to deep roots that allowed Omaha to retain a depth of character even as it became a modern city, a community connection that is often lost along the way as urban areas grow.

Saligman is also known for innovations in mural technology. Never thought you’d see the words “mural” and “technology” in the same sentence? Besides sending Sherman Williams “lab coats” scurrying to develop new paint chemistry especially for the effort, the Omaha Mural Project will be documented as a “best practice”
study in mural technology. From time-lapse photography to the recording of methods and materials, the project has also drawn the attention and support of the Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center in Omaha, the Rescue Public Murals project of Heritage Preservation in Washington, D.C. and the Winterthur/University of
Delaware Program in Art Conservation.

The first gargantuan figures have already taken shape on the mural that will unfold over the coming year, itself a story in process.

Sponsor:
The Peter Kiewit Foundation