I am honored to announce that I will be beginning the production of this beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright mural at 427 East Monroe in downtown Springfield, IL starting…NOW! After another 2 year process of procuring permissions, gaining rights and developing and spelling out all the legal hoopla needed for a project like this, I finally have the green light to begin production.

Due to the nature and legal rights of a project that involves copyrighted material, public funds, is managed through a non profit organization, AND on a building in an historic district, there is a LOT of hoops to jump through but we have made it and I am greatly honored and pleased to move forward on this project.

Being a lifelong resident of central Illinois and living and working in Springfield for the past 20 years, I have been involved in a lot of public projects downtown and I have always wanted to do something more for the city to recognize the fact that we have one of the greatest Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, right here under our noses. As an artist, the genius that FLW put into every aspect of the Dana Thomas House is more than admirable. It is unfathomable to me in how something so functional and beautiful could even be envisioned yet, here it stands for anyone to see. This architectural gem is often overshadowed by “all things Lincoln” so I took it upon myself to developed and drive this mural project into reality.

I started the preliminary design work on this mural over 2 years ago, even before the Farmers Market Mural was approved. Finding the wall was easy. Building owner and developer, Curtis Tillett and I met a few times and he shared my interest and vision of producing something on his wall. The FLW concept was easily accepted by him and we began working together immediately to prepare the wall and continue the project. After gaining city zoning, historic sites, and the Dana Thomas House’s approval, I began working with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation in Scottsdale, AZ to obtain the legal rights to Wright’s images. They were more than supportive to work with and agreed to provide me with the iconic sumac image and Wright signature for use free for this project.

With all pieces in place, the final hurdle for this project was funding, which is where Downtown Springfield Inc. and Springfield Mayor Langfelder stepped in. As a continuation of the Artification project and on the heals of the Farmers Market mural I completed last fall, this project was quickly adopted into this same program and DSI took over the management and funding of the project from there.

The final documentation was signed off on this project last Thursday and I have already began creating the spec drawings for the mural. I want to insure that the precise lines, angles and dimensions of the sumac image is exact, so I am working on creating a detailed spec drawing and building elevation so that when the mural painting begins, I can insure that every line width, angle and detail of this piece is exactly as Mr. Wright designed it. Once completed, this mural will stand as a 4 story homage to our city, Mr. Wright, the Dana Thomas House, and the prairie landscape that inspired him and me to complete this project.

I should be painting in full force in a couple weeks and have a completion date of July 1 so, the clock is ticking!

Keep an eye out for me!