1000 x 90

Brenda Councill; A Mural in the Making

Brenda Councill stands under the Super Foods Mural she painted at the North Carolina Research Campus (the largest painted dome in the Southeast); Kannapolis, NC.

July 18, 2012. HICKORY — Beginning August 11, 2012, the Hickory Museum of Art will proudly host internationally-known artist and Blowing Rock resident, Brenda Mauney Councill, for several months while she paints and brings to life a large-scale mural, hanging in the Museum’s Coe Gallery. The exhibition, A Mural in the Making: From Concept to Completion with Brenda Councill, introduces viewers to the fundamentals of painting large-scale murals: drawing and composition, perspective and vantage points, mixing of paint and selection of mural paint, and translation of images from miniature to monumental.

Visitors of this “live” event will have the opportunity to witness the entire progression of Ms. Councill’s unique and intimate idea blossom into a larger-than-life series of images on a canvas approximately twelve feet wide by twenty feet tall. The artist will access the two-story tall canvas by scaffolding erected especially for this exhibit. 

The mural is being created for Shurtape Technologies, LLC. (the exhibition’s “monumental” sponsor). Not only will the artist be using Shurtape products to create clean lines in the mural, rolls of tape will play into the theme of the mural. Stephen Shuford, CEO of Shurtape relates, “As a proud supporter of Brenda Councill, we are pleased that she will be using our FrogTape® and Shurtape® Blue Painter’s tape to assist in the creation of her upcoming mural. We are honored that after its showcase at the Hickory Museum of Art, the mural’s permanent home will be in our new corporate office.” 

Visitors may watch the mural’s progression during regular museum hours, organized workshops, programs, tours, and casual conversations with the artist. The artist will be working live on most Fridays and Saturdays in the gallery. Please call the Museum at 828-327-8576 for the most up-to-date schedule.

The Museum will host a Coffee and Conversation with Brenda Councill on Saturday, September 15 from 10 – 11 AM that will include light refreshments and a Q&A session. The artist will then paint live that day until 4 PM.

The exhibition will also include a curated pictorial portfolio and films of regional mural projects including the recently completed College of Education Building at Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina. A Mural in the Making runs through November 25, 2012.

Major exhibition support provided by Shurtape Technologies, LLC; and Vicki Coggins.

The artist states, “Creating in large scale presents formidable challenges as various vantage points that form perspective can render the success or failure of a piece.” Councill’s signature pieces have overcome these obstacles through optical illusions, complicated geometry and viewing parameters that yield an awe inspiring experience. 

Ms. Councill’s permanent public murals can be seen in the Belk Library and in the Reich College of Education building on the campus of Appalachian State University in Boone, NC; the Belk Atrium of Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC; the Grandfather Home and School for Children in Banner Elk, NC; the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis (the largest painted dome in the Southeast); Rumple Memorial Presbyterian Church, Blowing Rock, NC; Caldwell and Cabarrus County Public Health Buildings; the Women’s Center at St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens, GA; and in Boca Raton, FL on the exterior wall of the Penn-Florida building. 

Brenda Councill’s thirty-five year, award-winning career has been profiled  and praised by such notables as Martha Stewart, the late Greta Garbo, Michael Douglas, Samuel L. Jackson, Gene Shalit, as well as The Oprah Winfrey Show, PBS/UNC-TV, FOX, CBS, and NBC. Her work is in the following corporate and private collections: DuPont, AT&T, CSX Transportation, Credit Suisse, British Airways, The Canadian Imperial Bank, SunTrust, Gate Petroleum, Roberta Von Schlossberg, Sidney Kimmel, David H. Murdock, E. Llwyd Ecclestone, Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos, Senator Bob Dole, and Carol and Irwin Belk.

The Hickory Museum of Art is located in the Arts & Science Center of the Catawba Valley, 243 3rd Avenue NE, Hickory. Admission is free. For more information please visit www.HickoryArt.org or call 828-327-8576.