The Making of a Mural with Truman Adams

Truman Adams with new mural "Amphitrite"

Sarasota is a city known for its arts and culture. Happily, public art is part of that equation. That doesn't happen without the City being fully committed to incorporating public art into its planning. Since the 1980s, developers building commercial and multi-family structures have been required to spend $5K per $1M of construction costs on public art. The developer can commission artwork to be on- or off-site (in a location accessible to the public) or can "donate" the funds to a public art coffer. Some of those monies are being used to fund a new mural initiative dubbed the Florida Legacy Art Mural Series. Artist Truman Adam was awarded the first project, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Mary Davis Wallace has served as Sarasota's Public Art Manager since 2021. From Day One, Mary Davis recognized the importance of putting a structured plan in place to foster the City's public art program. And so she worked and worked and worked some more on creating a Public Art Plan for the City. The 112 page document outlines the City's objectives in detail and leaves little doubt that managing a public art program is not for the faint of heart. Sarasota is lucky to have someone as passionate and patient as Mary Davis at the helm.

The Plan notes that most of the murals in Sarasota have grown out of grassroots initiatives. That makes sense. Murals are significantly less expensive to create than sculptures. Murals are also more similar to the type of media we look at daily and thus tend to be more readily understandable. (I know, I know. That is a vast generalization, but I'm going with it.) Given these factors, it makes sense that the City would be interested in promoting this art form as part of its public art initatives. 

Following the City's adoption of the new plan, Mary Davis established a mural meet up group for local artists. It's a clearinghouse of sorts, with a list of potential artists being compiled for developers' consideration. But artists have also been encouraged to create their own opportunities by finding a suitable empty wall and persuading the property owner to allow a mural to be created there -- at the City's expense. Once agreement is reached, the artist must prepare a proposal for consideration by the Public Art Committee, which can approve the project or ask the artist to go back to the drawing board. 

Early stages in the creation process (and a super sunny day)

Truman Adams had a leg up in creating the inaugural mural for the program. He'd had his eye on an empty wall on a Utilities Department Building for a long time. In fact, he'd "tagged" the building not once but twice over the years. (In case this term from the graffiti world is new to you, "tagging" is when an artist leaves a painted mark on a wall to let other artists know he's claimed the space.) Truman can't recall what his mark looked like 13 years ago when he first identified the wall as a potential canvas. But he does remember the second tag done a few years later. While out on a first date with an unnamed woman, he painted a portrait of her on the wall. It sounds quite romantic to me, but she apparently wasn't impressed and they didn't go out again. What??!!! In any event, with the introduction of the new mural project, there was finally a real prospect the wall could be his. 

The approval process for even what seems to be a straightforward government project takes time. This was no exception. The fact that the building is owned by the City eliminated having to persuade the owner to allow a mural to be painted. Still, multiple approvals had to be obtained, including from the Public Art Committee. Truman presented three very different images for consideration by the committee members -- Amphitrite (the Greek goddess of the sea), children created from elements of the natural world, and a mosaic-like great white heron. "Amphitrite" was the winner. The Committee noted that the classical feel of the work was a nice tie-in with the Italian sculptures -- compliments of John Ringling -- that surround St. Armands Circle. It was also noted that the more traditional image might be appealing to people who have reservations about the increasing number of murals in our community. You would never confuse Amphitrite with graffiti.    

Creation of the mural took a little over two weeks, with Truman arriving at dawn in hopes of beating the heat. When I stopped by to check out his progress, he was working from a picture of Amphitrite on his phone. I couldn't figure out how he was translating the tiny on-screen image into the larger than life figure on the wall. The first step had been laying down a doodle grid over which he drew an outline of the image. From there he could paint the work square by square until Amphitrite's face and the coral surrounding her emerged. (Digression: This approach reminds me of Anne Lamott's wonderful book "Bird by Bird," which I highly recommend.)  

You might have noticed in the photo above that a pipe was inconveniently sticking out of the wall from which the mural was emerging. There's also an inexplicable archway behind the pipe (with a matching one on the other side) and a sizeable utility box that isn't shown in this picture. What's a muralist to do? Truman contemplated incorporating the pipe as an earring for the goddess, but he ultimately just painted it. Once the metal fencing that had been on the archways was removed, it was simple enough to blend those into the image as well. 

The bushes were/are slightly more problematic given the way they protrude into the image. There had been discussion of removing them until it was discovered they are the natural habitat for a butterfly  thought to have been extinct until recently. Seriously, what are the odds? So the shrubbery stayed. It serves as a contrast to the image of the aquatic goddess, grounding her in our world. 

"Amphitrite" as seen from the street (click on image to enlarge) 

After two+ weeks, the mural was complete. It is gorgeous. Make sure to check it out the next time you're driving on Tamiami Trail on the stretch by Marina Jacks. (More precisely, "Amphitrite" is located on Gulf Stream Avenue across the street from the controversial "Unconditional Surrender" sculpture.) For better images of the mural and the building in its unadorned state, click here. For Truman's website, click here. 

And there's more! I'm delighted to share a bit of news here about the Florida Legacy Art Mural Series. Four more murals are in the works, although they are early on in the approval process. So keep your eyes peeled for muralists at work. For more information about Sarasota's Public Art Program, click here. Happy viewing!