Artist reveals the story and beauty in this bland building

Artist reveals the story and beauty in this bland building

MONOLITH TO MURAL: Above, the Haslam Water Treatment Plant was an imposing utilitarian edifice. Top, Catnip’s city- and crowd-funded mural reminds onlookers that water is the source of all life, sacred and ancient

BY CATNIP

Arts and culture have always been intrinsically linked. Sculpture and architecture were interwoven in Grecian cities; ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics adorned the inside and outside of their places of dwelling with even more elaborately colored murals in tombs.

Humans have always understood the value of creativity exuding from the walls of their surroundings. Indigenous peoples 20,000 years ago (at least!) wrote the story of their people on the walls of the earth.

However, some time in the development of the current world, the eye instead went to flashy mass-produced logos and away from original artworks.

We surely built a lot of walls during that time though, and flash forward to current day, there is a quickly growing global movement in the world of contemporary muralism.

Bouncing forth from the methods, flows and tools of graffiti artists, street art has become a proven effective tool in a community to enrich the landscape and bring together local people to contribute to their place of life. Now it’s time to tell our story, a new story, of sharing, coming together, and working with nature to better protect and serve our mother, Earth (Gaia).