Since 2013 I have painted dozens of large scale public murals for municipal, non-profit, private, and corporate commissions, and mentored and managed dozens more. Murals allow me to work in a variety of styles, from more graphic and abstract, to painterly and representational. They provide my artistic practice a gift of diversity and new challenges, opportunities to connect and collaborate with artists, communities, and business owners, the ability to directly brighten the walls of my own community, as well as fresh air and (mostly) sunny days. Featured below is a small selection of my public murals, featuring a breadth of styles and concepts.

This painterly mural features an atmospheric collage of cyanotypes of prairie plants made during an artist residency in the Flint Hills of Kansas – home to the largest intact remnant of tallgrass prairie. Cyanotypes, a Victorian photographic technique known for its brilliant Prussian blue color, were used by English botanist Anna Atkins to publish the first book illustrated by photography in 1843, the same time Iowa's prairies began to rapidly fall to Deere's moldboard plow. Brush painted and 175’ long, this mural is one half of a pair of murals located in downtown Iowa City, Iowa.

Located in Roscoe, Illinois, outside of Rockford, northwest of Chicago, this mural was completed for the CRE8IV mural festival. The image features an aerial view of the Pecatonica River as it flows towards the Rock River – interactions of the midwestern grid, the agricultural landscape, with the wildness of the river, capture the landscape, character, and history of the area – agriculture and industry, sewn together by the watershed.

Completed for Trumpet Blossom Cafe in Iowa City, Iowa, this 16’x50’ mural was designed in collaboration with a local flower shop, Willow & Stock, to revitalize a patio after a municipal construction project decimated the nearby canopy. The mural was painted using a scaled reference and actual plant specimens to appear like they rest on the wall itself.

Approximately 16’x60’, this mural features a design that celebrates the original historic use of the building as a farrier and tack shop, with a draught horse motif and design. The repeating, shifted design, emphasises the horizontal tension of the building coupled to the horizontal pull of the horse.

Inspired by Venezuelan artist Manuel Cabré, this 14’x16’ mural was painted on aluminum composite panels and installed on the top floor patio of a private client to remind them of their home. The mural has a seamless hidden door to allow access to HVAC equipment behind the mural.

This mural was funded by a small grant and done as a gift to the children, families, and staff at the Bloomington Street Headstart Preschool. Designed as informed by an engagement project with the children, the mural embodies a youthful spirit and energy, and is painted with subtle illusionism to look just like the cut paper collage that inspired it. The mural is approximately 16’x100’ and was designed in collaboration with artist Sayuri Sasaki Hemann.

This 8’x100’ mural was painted partially off-site using Polytab and finished and installed on site over the course of three days. The mural plays on both natural and whimsical/nostalgic themes in associations with Okoboji as a historic destination for retreat as well as its natural beauty. The imagery was developed from a site visit to Okoboji and its museums, as well as interviews with families that have multigenerational traditions of traveling to the area. Images below are a few details from the project which is in a tunnel accessing the only public beach in the area.

Wrapping the full interior of a six story stairwell of a high traffic parking deck in Cedar Rapids, this commission features diverse portraits of under celebrated and/or whimsical characters from Cedar Rapids’ history, including local civil rights leaders. Large scale, representational portraits at each landing combine with graphic wayfinding elements serving some of the practical needs of the structure as well as redefining the atmosphere.