By now you have likely heard about the four-story wild turkey which the Italian muralist Hitnes painted on the side of the LexPark garage looking down over Triangle Park. Part of his The Image Hunter quest, Lexington's new turkey mural is one of a series of bird murals Hitnes painted while loosely following the trail of John James Audubon. If you have not seen it yet, we have included a picture below, but you really need to see it in person to do it justice. A lot of work went into making it happen -- both on Hitnes' part and by a lot of folks behind the scenes. We'd like to take a moment to extend our thanks to the PRHBTN group who were the most instrumental in that they funded the Lexington stop for this project. The scaffolding alone cost more than CKAS might have been able to raise, but PRHBTN have become experts at fundraising -- a big thanks as well to everyone who donated to their Kickstarter campaign. 

Even before starting his The Image Hunter project, Hitnes declared that he would only complete murals of birds he had the chance to see along the journey. So when he decided that he wanted to paint a wild turkey in Kentucky, CKAS was asked to help him find one -- no small task, but we were up to it. A quick check of eBird indicated we had the best chance to find wild turkeys around Lawrenceburg. Luckily, we have CKAS members who live on Beaver Lake where wild turkeys are common this time of year. So that's just where we went. We could not have asked for better weather or better luck: the morning was cool but clear and beautiful. Hitnes was able to see a few different groups of turkeys eating acorns beneath the oaks and he got some good video of both males and females. A huge thanks to those members who helped arrange for Hitnes to stay at their cabin, who allowed us to guide Hitnes on a "turkey hunt" on their property, and who were kind enough to offer us mugs of much-needed and very good coffee. Your Lawrenceburg turkeys will show up in the documentary Hitnes is producing which will memorialize The Image Hunter project. We will keep the group posted regarding the film's release dates; expect it to come out from Magic Mind Corporation as soon as they can edit it, hopefully by Fall of next year.  We plan to arrange several local showings.
 

On October 14th and 15th, a dozen UK students and local artists picked up brushes and rollers and did something unheard of before: painted a mural on the exterior of a University of Kentucky building. They were practicing techniques they learned in the Master Mural Class directed by Hitnes that CKAS helped arrange. But the mural painting almost didn't happen where it did. The day before the Mural Class was to take place, CKAS had arranged for Hitnes to give a talk at the UK Ecological Research and Education Center entitled "When Art and Science Collide." Our goal was to have the talk, the class, and the resulting mural occur at and on that facility. But when we booked the talk, we had no idea how appropriate its title would be. The art of the mural and the science of the building almost didn't come together.

University of Kentucky officials were initially reluctant to allow painting on the outside of a UK building, fearing there would be long-term upkeep costs associated with the project which UK was not willing to assume. Instead, they offered the class the option of painting the interior lobby of the building or painting the community room where the talk took place. But when Hitnes was shown these interior spaces, he called them "more fresco than mural" and insisted that they were really not suitable for the class's purposes. He wanted to know if there was another wall -- a larger mural-sized exterior wall -- the class could use. Thus, less than a week before the Mural Class was to take place, it looked like the class-produced mural would need to be painted someplace other than the EREC/PIMSER facility.

A good deal of environmental and avian research takes place at the UK Ecological Research and Education Center, so CKAS really wanted the resulting Audubon bird-themed mural to be painted there. Additionally, a large number of local students, teachers, and community groups that use that building for meetings, workshops, and classes, so the mural would get a lot of notice. Everyone involved in planning the talk and class did not want to see the mural move to another building in another part of town.

Luckily, in the final hour, a compromise: UK agreed that Hitnes' and the class's mural could be painted on the exterior walls of the patio area located just behind the EREC/PIMSER building, which can be seen from the neighborhood and trails behind the facility and in part from the new library next door. Though it was not exactly the front-of-a-building mural we had hoped for, the chance to keep the mural on that faciolity -- to highlight the collision of art and science -- we had to take it! CKAS asked that UK trim the patio trees, which they did and did quickly, and we have agreed to protect the mural with graffiti-proofing, which will be guaranteed to last for ten years after we apply three coats (the first coat went up last week, just before Devil's night, just to be safe). Note: There are a couple of weather-dependent events scheduled on November 4th & December 5th to put up the extra graffiti coats if you would like to help.

In the end, the resulting bird-inspired mural is amazing. It is still difficult to comprehend that the whole work was conceived and completed within two days.  We have had many people comment on how wonderful it turned out and there has been a lot of positive press covering the class and the artwork, including this UK video.  We're glad we could help arrange this for the students and for the University.  If you haven't had the chance yet, it is very worth your while to stop by to see the work at the EREC/PIMSER: 1737 Russell Cave Road.
 

   
 

Special thanks to the UK Student Sustainability Council for their financial and media support. Additionally, a huge thanks to the Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, which supported Hitnes' Talk and Mural Master Class with state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Also (though it goes without saying) our heartfelt thanks to all the great artists who contributed their vision and hard work to this beautiful collaborative effort!