September 23rd, our 30th Mural Painting Session

c)2011 Judy Burgarella, Dawn Mill, Christine Thomas

 NOTE: The Vero Beach Mural Project is being Sponsored by the Vero Beach Art Club, and created by Artist Volunteers Judy Burgarella (http://www.burgarellaart.com/)  Dawn Mill and Christine Thomas.   Examples of artists' work can be found on www.verobeachartclub.org/) The Mural consistes of six tretched canvas panels, 36' long by 8' high, each panel 8' x 6'.  Created in and for the Community Center, in their "Florida Room."  Visitors are welcome to watch the artists paint between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays.

Today was devoted to production of the video interview dialogue for the Vero Beach Mural Project, and by the time I arrived at about 9:00, Bob Barbour (videographer http://www.bobbarbourphotography.com/ ) was already in the process of setting his equipment up.  He was assisted by Sue Webb, a professional photorapher, and Coley Coleman, who is an experienced videographer and an artist in his own right, having a portfolio filled with exquisitely rendered sculptures in stone and marble.

We didn't expect to not paint today, but the equipment setup and intereview sessions took most of the day.  Sue Dinenno was the moderator, and she had drafted a dozen or so questions for me, Christine and Dawn and had sent them to us earlier in the week to study.  While we waited for Bob to set up we rehearsed and discussed our answers and what important information we wanted to impart to the public.

It was the first time we were at the murals without paint on our clothes, faces and hands.  We had lots of makeup on, our hair combed, clothes not rumpled or splotched ... we really cleaned up nice.  But oh, when we saw the results of our interviews on the prompter it was rather shocking.  All those chins and wrinkles weren't in the mirror this morning, so what in the world happened between leaving our houses this morning and arriving at the Community Center?  What's worse is that nothing can be "Adobied" out.  We can only hope that Bob Barbour is a kind editor and does right by all of us.  However we laughed and joked about it all, and mused at our discomfort in front of all those lights and camera angles.  Bob even had an "Action" movie clapboard which was so corny but fun.

"Action" Clapper

While the camera people were setting up, Jay Kramer, mayor of Vero Beach, and his wife Olive stopped by to see my rendition of his portrait on Panel #1.  I was delighted to finally meet him, and they were happy with the outcome of the mural so far.  We chatted for a while, and then got on with the business of making this video.

Mayor Jay Kramer looking at himself in the Mural

Pictured below are the videographers making plans for lighting, set-up and background.  We artists were impressed at how professional Bob made the whole process, and it was interesting, enjoyable and challenging for all of us.  Challenging for us in that we tried to present our answers in a casual yet thoughtful way, conveying confidence, enthusiasm and eloquence in spite of the "posed" questions and a room full of cables, wires, lights and cameras, and many eyes watching us intently.

Production Assistants Susan Webb, Coley Coleman, and Videographer Bob Barbour planning angles, lights, etc.

Finally, the interview process, and pictured below is the actual recording session with Sue Dinenno posing questions to Christine Thomas.  Christine has work experience in the radio industry, and so was fairly comfortable in front of the camera.


Rolling the cameras with Christine Thomas's interview



Below is the interview session with Dawn Mill.  We all were posed different questions, with runthrough twice, and it will be interesting to see how Bob edits all the different answers and camera angles.  It's surprising how you can be posed the same question twice, and the second time a completely different answer comes out!

Rolling the camera with Dawn Mill's interview

Since we had a lot of down time, we discussed the difficulty in getting a good block of time to paint due to he buiding being used by so many other organizations.  At this rate we will be giving up our Mondays and Fridays for a long time.  Although we enjoy the project and are having a blast together, we need to find another location with some empty space for us to go on weekends and full days to get this job done.  It is sometimes frustrating for us to stop, clean up, pack up, and then cart the huge panels into an awkward (and fairly vulnerable) storage area.  If we had a place where we could leave our panels, tools and supplies at the ready and available whenever we have spare time to work, it would go so much faster.  The setup and breakdown alone takes about 1-1/2 hours out of our workday.  Anyone have any suggestions or offers out there?  If so, please call me at 772-581-8281 in Sebastian.

In any case, we will get the job done, as we are committed professionals, and we are anxious to get this work out there for everyone's enjoyment ... especially the children.  Stay tuned!

Judy Burgarella
Blogger for the Vero Beach Mural Project