Brian Harper

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    • Bunker Series
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Bendel’s Walking Mural

 
During the summer of 2004, I assisted Don Bendel in the creation of a ceramic walking mural for the Thomas Elementary school in Flagstaff, Arizona. Over 2 tons of clay was mixed and put into two 4 x 36 foot sections at a depth of about 2 inches. When the clay was ready to be walked on, over 600 students from the ages of 5 – 13 walked through the mural, leaving their footprints layered in the wet clay. During the drying stage, we cut the mural into 304 tiles and transported them to the Tozan Noborigama, a large wood fire kiln on the Northern Arizona University campus, where we then wood fired them for 7 days to about 2,350 degrees fahrenheit. We then transported the tiles back to the school and reassembled them back to its original layout according to a numbering system we added to the tiles when we cut the mural apart.  Thomas Elementary hired a contractor to install the 72 foot long mural in a prominent spot on the front face of the school, clearly visible from the street.
 

Getting ready for the kids to help
Getting ready for the kids to help
Getting the clay out of the wheel barrow
Mixing the clay
Don Bendel
Putting the clay in the form
Putting the clay in the form
Kids walking through the mural
Bendel being interviewed by a reporter
Kids walking through the mural
Kids walking through the mural
Bendel eating lunch with some of the kids
Wet mural
Wet mural (detail)
Wet mural (detail)
Wet mural (detail)
Wet mural (detail)
Cutting the mural apart
Cutting and numbering the tiles
Drying the tiles
Transporting the tiles to the kiln
Transporting the tiles to the kiln
Loading the mural
Loading the mural
Signing up for firing shifts
Bricking up the doors to the back chambers
Getting the back chambers ready for the firing
A true "Bendel Door"
Bendel and I bricking up the door to the Dogi chamber
Bendel at the lighting ceremony
Bendel telling stories at the lighting of the kiln
The Tozan Flag over a smokey kiln
Tiffany Carbonneau and Bill Sheppard firing from the front
Fire
Gelinda Ferrin firing from the front of the kiln
Firing one of the back chambers
Wood drying
Don Bendel cleaning out the Dogi chamber
Unloading the mural
Unloading the mural
Unloading the mural
Transporting the mural back to the school
Putting the mural back together
Reassembled (detail)
Reassembled (detail)
Reassembled (detail)
Reassembled on the cafeteria floor
The Finished Walking Mural
The Finished Walking Mural (detail)
The Finished Walking Mural
The Finished Walking Mural
The Finished Walking Mural

 

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Copyright @ Brian Harper 2001-2019

 

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