Mural Arts Internship

In my mission to work for The Mural Arts Program and have my own wall one day, I took part in the Internship Program this summer. I was lucky enough to intern with Eric Okdeh, who has become a tireless advocate, helping me to achieve my goal. My fellow intern and I would arrive every morning, Monday through Friday, to help Eric work on the mural at 5th and Spring Garden. In the morning, we would help the Mural Corps students paint different sections of the mural or lay tiles using the "Tile Pile" program. It was my first attempt at teaching and it was incredibly difficult, but it was worth it, because the students were great. They were filled with energy and, luckily, entusiasm is contagious.


Pictured are a few members of the crew who worked on the mural: Eric Okdeh (lead artist), Dan (fellow intern), Wilson (student). This mural was painted on 5ft by 5ft pieces of parachute cloth, which is similar to interfacing, then glued to the wall with Nova Gel. This process saves some time by not having to grid the entire wall, but you do have to touch up the work where the panels meet.

Here, the students are working on the panels. Since students are not allowed to work on scaffolding, it is great that they get the chance to work on these panels so they can be more involved in the project.

We worked with a program called "Tile Pile" to create the mosaic tile images which accent a few sections of the wall. You put an image into the program and it is broken down into detailed map of specific colored tiles, which can then be ordered from the manufacturer.