Compiled and written by Karin Eaton, Executive Director, Mural Routes, and presented at 12th National Mural Symposium, Canada, in October 2009. A overview of the contemporary usage of mural and wall art, as submitted by the international mural art community and members of Mural Routes.

1. THE BIG PICTURE
Current Trends in Wall Art
Presented by Karin Eaton
Executive Director Mural Routes
Changing the Landscape:
12th
National Mural Symposium
October 17th
, 2009
Midland, Ontario

2. In the beginning….
Over the past many centuries
muralists have left their mark as
chroniclers, visual storytellers,
messengers of the times in which
they live.

3. School of Athens, Raphael (1508-1511) Vatican
City, Italy

4. Observations:
TRENDS IN MURAL MAKING
You can trace the changes in mural trends from the
glorification and beautification of churches, palaces and
other institutions, through expressions of protest and
social upheaval to an era of commercialism,
expressions of culture and heritage to a time of more
freedom of expression and styles.
Follow the money, follow the passion
Major Movers in setting current trends in mural making
Judy Baca – Social Planning & Resource Council (SPARC) Los Angeles, CA
Karl Schutz – Chemainus Festival of Murals & Global Mural Conference
Jane Golden – Mural Art Program, Philadelphia

5. Glorification & Beautification
Public Art Commissions
Decorative murals
Advertising
Urban Renewal
Community Engagement
Celebrating Heritage
Cultural Expression
Tourism & Economic Development
Youth employment and education
Social messaging
Memorials
Marking Territory
Random acts of wall art
TRENDS IN MURAL MAKING
ALL MURALS
 Tell a Story
 Change the Landscape
 Create a Sense of Place

6. Academe, John Pugh, 1980 - Taylor Hall, Chico, CA
Public Commissions

7. Curtain Wall
Derek Besant, 1980 Toronto, Canada
Public Commissions

8. Public Commissions
Sense of Place, Frank Perna, 1997 - Kennedy Subway Station, Toronto

9. Light Walk, John Pugh, 2001 - Palo Alto Medical Foundation, CA
Public Commissions

10. Public Commissions
100 Years of Lincoln’s South High Street
Gary Drostle, 2002 Lincoln, UK

11. Public Commissions
Calle de la Eternidad, Johanna
Poethig, - Los Angeles, CA, 1993

12. Public Commissions
Loop Tattoo, Johanna Poethig, -
Chicago, IL, 2005/06
Non-woven media

13. Public Commission
Indian Land Dancing, Todd Osborne & Tracy Van Duinen
Chicago, IL, 2008

14. Public Commissions
Often sponsored by
institutions or government
agencies.
Also funded as percent for
art projects or by private
patrons of the arts.
Kids Play, Bill Wrigley, 2006 – Toronto, Canada

15. Private Commissions
Meditation, in memory of Arthur &
Helen Joynt
Artist: Carol Knowlton Dority
Westminister United Church,
Whitby, Ontario, Canada, 2009

16. Political Murals
In the mid-20th
Century, protest and political murals made a big impact on
both the movements that they represented and on mural making of the
time.
Mexico, Northern Ireland and the Berlin Wall all had examples of this type
of mural art. Much of this has disappeared. But the influences remain.
Greeting to Taniperla reproduction, in Toronto, of
a mural destroyed in Chiapas, Mexico 1998
The mural has also been
painted in Barcelona, Madrid
and Bilbao, Spain; Florence,
Italy; Mexico City, Mexico;
Oakland, California; San
Francisco, California.

17. Political Murals
Murals of Northern Ireland

18. Bobby Sands mural on gable wall of Sinn Fein offices on Falls Road, Belfast
Political Murals

19. Memorial Murals
Woodstock Road, East Belfast

20. SPARC’s first public art project and its true signature piece, the Great Wall is a
landmark pictorial representation of the history of ethnic peoples of California
from prehistoric times to the 1950’s, conceived by SPARC’S artistic director and
founder Judith F. Baca.
Begun in 1974 and completed over five summers, the Great Wall employed over
400 youth and their families from diverse social and economic backgrounds
working with artists, oral historians, ethnologists, scholars, and hundreds of
community members.
The Great Wall of Los Angeles is one of LA’s true cultural
landmarks and one of the country’s most respected and largest
monuments to inter-racial harmony.
Social messages

21. Social messages
To Cause to Remember, Johanna Poethig -
homeless shelter in San Francisco, CA 1990

22. The goal is to create 30 murals, in
the Greater Toronto Area (GTA),
that depict each of the 30 human
rights Articles in the UDHR. To help
commemorate this milestone
anniversary in the international fight
for human rights, community groups
and artists are collaborating with
Amnesty International on this
powerful citywide project.
Project: Urban Canvas
Initiated by Amnesty
International Toronto in 2008
Article # 26, UDHR
YOUTHLINK Toronto, ON, 2008.
Social Messages

23. Heritage Murals
This movement started in Chemainus BC, Canada in the mid-1980’s and spread to
small communities across North America, New Zealand, Australia and the UK. They
are often associated with tourism and economic development.
Native Heritage, Paul Ygartua – Chemainus Festival of Murals, BC 1983

24. Heritage
Portraits of Our Past, Sarah Collard – Village of Islington, Toronto, 2008

25. Heritage & Tourism
Century of Sport, Alan Potter – Invergordon, Scotland, 2007

26. Heritage & Tourism
Pipes and Drams, Anna Smith – Invergordon, Scotland, 2006

27. Heritage & Tourism
Decades of Green Dragons Basketball, Keith Goodson – Lake Placid,
Florida, 2008

28. Heritage
In the Way of Progress, Phil, Jennifer & Jamie
Richards Scarborough, ON, 1996

29. Heritage
Prairie Denizens
Pat Kirkwood Halverston
Lampman, Sask., 2009

30. Heritage
St Andrews Harbour 1907, Geoff Slater – St Andrews, NB, 2007

31. Heritage
Valour Road Commemorative Mural, Charlie Johnston Winnipeg, Man., 2008

32. Heritage
Emily Carr’s Beloved Trees, Steffen Junemann – Chemainus, BC, 2008

33. Heritage
Hyde Park Kenwood Oakland mural, detail,
Rahmaan Barnes – Chicago, IL, 2008

34. Decorative
DeBoers Gallery Door Entrance,
Lambertus DeGraaf - Owen Sound, ON, 2003

35. Decorative
Dyonsius – Wine Cellar Ceiling E’ Terra Inn
Michael Marcotte

36. Advertising/Signage
Artist, Robert Mataranglo

37. Urban Renewal
Rush of Fall, Phillip Adams & David Guinn – Montreal, Quebec, 2009

38. Urban Renewal
24th
and Mission Utility Box, 2006
Precita Eyes Muralist Association
and Creativity Explored
24th and Mission Utility Box, 2006
Precita Eyes Muralist Association

39. Urban Renewal
Achieving Harmony, 2009 Past and Present, 2008
Sarah Collard, Winnipeg, Manitoba

40. Urban Renewal / Youth Engagement
Recontre entre les cultures / Where diversity meets,
Yannick Picard, Montreal, Quebec, 2007

41. Community
Lewisham Street Rhythms, Gary Drostle - London / United Kingdom, 2003

42. Community
Bert Monterona - Port Coquitlam, BC, 2009

43. Community
Bert Monterona - International Mural Festival, Winnipeg, Man. 2007

44. Community
Reflections of Good, Juan Chavez – Chicago, IL, 2006

45. Youth engagement
Puppets, Daniel Adoot, Michael Brown,
YiRu Li, Jessey Pacho, Izzy Rashid –
Toronto, 2008

46. Youth engagement
Youthlink, Harbourfront Community Centre project – Toronto, 2004/05

47. Youth engagement
Peace Dove, Soulimage artists, WonG, Manny, Ben & Jay – Toronto, 2009

48. Youth Engagement
It Takes a Village to Raise a Child, Youth Project
Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre, Toronto, ON,
2009

49. Youth Education
Reflections on Beauty, detail with Jaime, Youth
Employment and Education Project - Toronto, ON, 2007

50. Community Engagement /Youth Education/Social Message
Come-Unity, Rob Matejka, Tristan, Johnny, Maggie, Jordan – Mural Routes
Urban Canvas Project -Toronto, 2009

51. Youth Engagement
3 Toronto Graffiti Writers Painting Graffiti, Gonzo, Phade & Espr
Toronto, ON 2009

52. Urban Renewal / Community Engagement
Philadelphia Muses, Meg Saligman Mural Arts
Program, Philadelphia, 1999

53. Urban Renewal / Community Engagement
Behold the Open Door, John Laidacker & Re-entry workers –
Mural Arts Program in collaboration with Philadelphia Prison
System, Philadelphia, 2008

54. Urban Renewal / Community Engagement
Holding Grandmother’s Quilt
Donald Gensler – Mural Arts Program,
Philadelphia, 2004

55. Random Acts of Wall Art
Keith Haring, Subway Art, New York

56. Random Acts of Wall Art
Banksy, Street artist, UK

57. Random Acts of Wall Art
Banksy, UK

58. Random Acts of Wall Art
Tusk, Queen/Portland Alley, Toronto

59. Random Acts of Wall Art
Trace was painted by
Mat Hand as a gift to
Toronto when he was
staying there prior, to
being the keynote
speaker at the 12th
National Mural
Symposium.
The mural depicts
Cathy, a former
Torontonian now
living in Berlin, where
the artist resides.
Trace - Mat Hand, 2009

60. Current Trend - Materials and Methods
 Fresco
 Paint
 Plywood panels
 Aluminium
 Vinyl
 Canvas
 Non-woven media
 Mosaic
 Mixed media
 Video / illumination
 Walls – also ceilings and floors
 Utility boxes
 Street furniture
 Vehicles

61. http://www.muralroutes.com
http://www.danfulwiler.com/muralsaroundtheworld/
http://murals.trompe-l-oeil.info/
http://www.globalartsandtourism.net/global/index.html
CURRENT MURAL RESOURCES
There is a vast library of books and online documentation
of murals, mural projects and mural artists.
The websites below provide links to many other sources.

62. THE BIG PICTURE
Current Trends in Wall Art
Presented by Karin Eaton
Executive Director Mural Routes
Mural Routes gratefully acknowledges the support of:
Ontario Trillium Foundation
Toronto Arts Council
Ontario Arts Council
City of Toronto
and the hard work of the volunteers and groups that
help to achieve its goals.
Working together to enhance communities through mural art