MIDDLEBURY — Middlebury College’s Wright Theater will undergo a makeover next week as a large-scale mural of Vermont artist Sabra Field’s “Cosmic Geometry” is painted onto it’s backside.
From Oct. 15-19, Colossal Media, a company that specializes in “hand-painted wallscapes,” will transfer the South Royalton artist’s piece to the theater wall. Between Oct. 15 and 23, visitors are encouraged to watch the progress of the mural and to submit photos of family and friends posing in front of it to the Middlebury Mural Photo Contest. To submit a photo, and the chance to win a Sabra Field poster, visit murals4america.com.
Field, herself, will be on campus Oct. 18-23 to oversee the completion of what will be her first piece of large-scale, outdoor artwork since the 1980s.
Kate Lupo, a 2010 Middlebury College graduate, proposed the project last fall. The Committee on Art in Public Places at Middlebury College approved the environmental-themed mural this spring, as did the town of Middlebury’s Design Advisory Committee.
It was with an eye toward Middlebury College’s connection to sustainability that Lupo chose “Cosmic Geometry,” a grid-like pattern of 16 square images, both nature and architecture-themed. According to Field, the two motifs are interrelated — the same patterns and forms infuse both nature and the man-made world.
Spectators will be able to watch as artists from Colossal Media are strung up on scaffolding to trace and fill in the images. The Brooklyn, N.Y.-based company — which has worked with the likes of Museum of Modern Art, Nike and acclaimed international street artist Banksy — will stretch outside its usual urban ad-painting business to make this community mural a reality.
Tamara Hilmes is at [email protected].