mural blog

Blackboard Jungle

A little while back we got the opportunity to create artwork that decorated walls and ceilings at the the Paramount Bar at the Paramount Hotel in New York (at the time part of Ian Schrager's hotel empire, and now joining the Hard Rock Hotel empire).

The concept was that the walls and ceilings were one giant chalkboard - and we set about writing random sayings, and drawing pictures over every surface.

The first step, like on all projects, was to figure out how we were going to get the look of blackboard on all walls without the client having to install slate everywhere.

It turns out that Benjamin Moore makes an excellent chalkboard paint - you just roll it onto any smooth surface like a normal latex paint and it creates a chalkboard-like surface that really works.  (Two coats for best results).

We tried a patch on our studio wall, and we decorated it with different color chalks, and also some oil sticks of different colors.

The goal was not so much to create a real blackboard, that can be erased and changed, but just to create the "look" of a spontaneously created blackboard.

The installation and our artwork was intended to be permanent - they didn't want patrons erasing anything or adding their own "artistic" sayings.  So, things like the oil stick worked well for creating a chalkboard "look" that could not be easily erased.

Further, we found an excellent "sealer" to apply over all the finished work to ensure it's durability and 'cleanability' - a necessity for art installed in high traffic/high spill locations such as bars or restaurants.

Once the process had been established, the designer, Suzanne Couture of Ian Shrager Hotels, provided us with a wealth of source materials that we could choose from in creating the artwork, which we mixed in with a pool of references we had provided.

The renovation of the bar was on a very fast pace.  While we were working with the designer to come up with enough usable material to cover all the surfaces with the density she was looking for, contractors were busy at the hotel painting all the surfaces with the chalkboard paint we had specified.

Ultimately, we only had about 4 working days at the jobsite to do the application.  David Newcomb, our art director, led the effort, and we had a crew of about 4-5 artists.

In addition to the crew we had applying artwork, the owners of the bar had their hipster / celebrity friends come and add even another layer to the mix.

The project was a big success - the place looked very cool when complete, and was definitely a unique and provocative addition to the pantheon of Manhattan hipster hangouts.

In fact, we like the idea so much that when we were renovating our new offices, we built a wall (which I discussed earlier here) that we decided to do a similar blackboard finish on. 

We use it more as a real chalkboard, and draw a giant calender on it so we can see just what's going on...

It's our little version of an idea that worked so well for the Paramount Bar!

Coit Tower in San Francisco

Coit Tower in San Francisco is filled with fresco murals created as part of the PWAP (Public Works of Art Project), a precursor program to the WPA Arts Programs of the 1930's and 40's.

The tower has a great website which features history, pictures and information on the murals and artists who created artworks for the tower.

It's also informative about the technique the artists used to create the interior murals; fresco.  This page offers an interesting summary of the technique as used in the Tower.

Silver Hill Atelier recently completed an extensive mural project using true fresco techniques.  You can see pics of it here (the top two photos on the page), and I'll be sure to blog the project at some point in the future!

The Coit Tower website is a fascinating site to start exploring early American public mural projects, as well as learning more about the technique of Fresco. 

No Job Too Small!

Recently we were contacted by the Intrepid Museum in New York City.  For those not familiar with the Intrepid, it's a decommissioned aircraft carrier permanently ported in New York.  It's an Essex Class ship, which were the largest carriers in the fleet.  The Intrepid has a flight deck that is NINE football fields in length!

Now, you'd think with structure that ABSOLUTELY GINORMOUS, it would have no problem getting noticed.  But this is New York City, and you gotta go the extra mile if you want to make your mark here.  Particularly if you're not allowed to fire your 1000 round per minute 50 caliber machine guns.

So the museum contacted Silver Hill Atelier to see about getting the name "Intrepid" painted on the stern of the ship - the part of the ship that is visible to thousands of drivers and passerbyes on the West Side Highway.

"We're supposed to dangle 50' over the Hudson River, and paint the word 'Intrepid?  Sure.  No problem..."

For a step by step on how we did it, click below to keep reading...

The first step for a project like this is planning in the studio.  We were given a digital file of the logo, and we blew this file up to full 1:1, and printed it out on our large format digital printer.  This printed version on paper would serve as our template / layout for the project.

The next step was planning for safety.  Getting to the spot where they wanted the logo would require a special hanging scaffold platform setup.  We used a company we have worked with before - Colgate Scaffold.  These guys scaffold everything in New York City.

Unfortunately, as the Stern of the ship curves outward, the hanging platform would have to be installed in place prior to our getting on it.  That meant we would have to rappell down to the platform to even START painting.  Great!  Well, luckily our crew, including the owner of Silver Hill, Norvel, are all adventurous types, and already had the mountineering  skills to get to the platform.  That's right.  Mountineering.  We'll look for it on your resume.

The day of the job, we arrived at the ship, and began by laying out the logo on the deck.  CLICK THUMBNAILS FOR ENLARGED VIEWS!

Each of the letters was printed individually so that we could get the ideal spacing accurate to the surface of the ship.

After laying out the letters, and taping them together in a pleasing manner, it was time to go over the edge of the ship.

Norvel volunteered to go over first, after reassuring the crew, "Look, I got us into this thing, but I promise I'll get us out too!"

So Over the Edge he went!

I think Michael followed him down...

Once everyone had gotten down to the hanging platform, the relatively easy job of painting the logo began.

The first step was to tape the logo into place.  You know when you're hanging a painting on the wall at home, and you have your wife step back and tell you if it's level and centered?  We had a guy a quarter mile away doing the same thing for us.   And of course we double-checked things through measurements and our trusty speed level!

The next step was to "pounce" the design onto the ship.  Back in the studio, we had taken the digital printout of the logo, and "pounced" along the outlines of the letters.  To pounce something, your use a pounce wheel.  A pounce wheel looks a lot like a circular pizza cutting blade, but much smaller, on the end of a hand-held instrument that looks a little like a dentist's tools look.  It creates small little perforations in the paper.  Then, when you are at the site, and the paper is taped up to the ship as shown in the picture above, you take chalk dust and rub it along the perforated areas of the paper.  The chalk travels through the tiny perforations, and transfers a line drawing directly onto the underlying surface, in this case, the ship.

After pouncing the logo, we peeled away the digital print to reveal the transferred white line drawing underneath.

The next step was to mask the outlines of the letters with blue tape to prepare for painting.

Once the letters were taped, you can imagine that the actual painting part was the easiest part of the whole business!

Then we just had to wait for the paint to dry, and then pull the tape off.

A Job Well Done....

And a happy crew - another adventure in the arts!

Design For Living

Several years back, Stadtlanders Pharmacy hired us to produce these murals for a retail outlet they had opened in New York City on 8th Avenue in Chelsea.  Stadtlanders pharmacies focus on providing care to patients with chronic medical conditons such as HIV/AIDS, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, hepatitis, etc.

With that focus, they are a care provider that specializes in managing conditions so that patients can reduce the impact of their medical condition and focus more on living life.

I think the inclusion of murals at this store, along with the rest of the design which is warm and contemporary, really helps to communicate their message.

These days, most pharmacies are fairly impersonal places at the back of large consumer drugstore chains such as Rite-Aid or Duane Reade.

The murals we created help to make Stadtlanders a place that is noticably different - a place that shows it cares about the health of the people who pass through its doors, and a place that suggests our individual health can be affected by the bigger picture - society at large, and the communities we live in.

While I certainly can't comment about Stadtlanders business as a whole, I definitely applaud the integration of design into Stadtlanders mission as exemplified at this store, and only wish the whole healthcare industry could see that design can help make an increasingly profit driven and impersonal business into an industry that is, once again, about people first.

The inclusion of art suggests the kind of outside factors that can influence our day to day wellness!

Flocking? Yeah, we love to flock!

Some time back we created a custom flocked wallpaper as part of a special project that the Rockwell Group had designed.  The project was a fantasy library room for the actor Jeremy Irons, and was conceived as part of a benefit for the DIFFA organization.  The wallpaper, which can be seen in the background of the picture above was a flocked image of inverted trees on a gradated ground - an image you might see if you were to look at a reflection of trees in a still lake or body of water.

Flocked wallpaper, for those of you not familiar, is often thought of as the very embodiement of a certain kind of tacky or kitschy interior design - This is due to it's unfortunate resurgence as a design staple of the 1960's and 1970's, and perhaps a lingering association it still holds with 19th century bordello design.  But it actually has a long history, with the first flocked wallpapers  making their appearance in the late 17th century as Annabelle Magazine points out in brief history of wallpapers.

However, most of those who still hold such negative connotations of this fabulous product are either dead or dying, and it's time for the new generation of flockers and flock lovers to emerge!

The term "flocking" refers to the peach fuzz like texture on the wallpaper, as seen in the above detail of a flocked wallpaper we made, or the technique of applying the texture.  Jewelry boxes, or cases for musical instruments are often flocked to provide a layer of soft protection for fragile / easily damaged objects.

Of course, the American Flock Association can tell you a lot more than I ever could about all the history and contemporary applications of flocking.

As far as it's use in wallpapers, I can tell you that it's so rare today, that the famous British manufacturer of historical wallpapers, Cole & Son, claims on their web site that they are "the world's last remaining manufacturer of hand flocked wallpaper".

I guess they haven't heard of Silver Hill Atelier!

We created this flocked wallcovering for the Pentagram designed restaurant Sullivan's, which was located in The Ed Sullivan Theater where David Letterman broadcasts his show from.

This flocking was perhaps the most complicated we have done, with three different flocked colors, and a fourth base color underneath it all.

Completed, it was a stylish trompe l'oeil of curtains that was appropriate for the retro glamour and style of the restaurant.

The process of flocking, as we do it, involves multiple passes over custom sized sheets of wallpaper.  We create a design, typically one color, which is to be flocked over a single color background, as can be seen in this detail image to the right.

For a flocked wallcovering of two colors, like this one, we need to make three passes on the wallpaper - one for the base color, one for the glue that will hold the flocking powder, and a third and final pass which is the application of the flocking.

As each pass can ruin a sheet it is a fairly complex process. There is a typically an overage of as much as 20% of an order to obtain the enough sheets of suitable quality and coverage for final use and approval.   And I guess that's why we seem to be the only company in America still creating custom hand flocked wallpapers.

As it is unique, and entirely custom, it's not an inexpensive product.  We make it to order, and usually charge on a square foot basis, with a minimum of 500 square feet.  Depending on the design and quantities ordered, it can range from $15 - $20.00/square foot.

In additon to Sullivan's we've created flocked wallpaper for Django restaurant, seen on the left....

And for multiple locations of "Strip House Restaurant" as seen in the photo below.

So if it's flocking you want, it's flocking we got.

We love to flock, and we're pretty flocking good at it!