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Cut It Out!..Depth, Illusion and Reality ..The Interactive Mural

© Joan Murphy

The most exciting aspect of mural creation is the possibility for artists to incorporate 3 dimensional objects into the image. This creates spatial illusion, textural effects and a more realistic finished product while encouraging participation and interaction.

Using wooden cut out features can do this. Light wood such as MDF is cut with a scroll saw and painted as a finished object before being glued with a strong builders glue. This can be cost effective if recycled from off-cuts from places such as Reverse Garbage. http://www.reversegarbage.com.au Cut out pieces can be layered to create depth and to create perspective.

Images made in this way, such as bees and butterflies can be hung as mobiles in front of the mural. The spatial illusion is enhanced and the insects appear as though they are floating in front of the picture.

Gluing mirrors into the picture can encourage participation and interaction so that the viewer becomes a part of the entire painting. Incorporating blackboards, whiteboards and other suitable surfaces means that children can draw their own ideas into the mural or add animals or motifs of various kinds. This is a great way to entice people who want to draw and to feel a part of the process. Maybe you could further encourage this by painting shapes onto chalkboards and allowing viewers to colour them in. The chalk can then be wiped off for another participant. This is an especially good idea if you provide an already painted example of the image so that little children can copy. Perhaps you could mark out games onto the path in front of the mural, so that people can play chess or checkers with wooden cut out tors. This proves to be hours of fun for viewers.

Gardens and pot plants can also be welcome additions to the picture plane. Pots cut in half and stuck to the wall can present an attractive plant, giving a fresh, realistic vitality to the painting. Fountains can also make a welcome addition to the atmosphere and give refreshing, pleasant, cleansing sounds. Artificial pottery rocks can enhance the atmosphere and are quite cheap to make. Maybe a real fence attached in front of the scene will create an interesting spatial relationship between the viewer and the artwork.

Textiles can be glued to the painting to create false effects, for example a large piece of rope could serve as a hanging vine. Real clothes could be stuck to the image of a person. Or mannequins could be cut in half and stuck into the scene so that the figure protrudes from the wall. Furniture could be added in a similar fashion. There is a type of bandage called Modrock, (in Australia) which can be used to create shapes by wetting and wrapping around objects. Once set it becomes a replica of that object. This could be attached to the mural and used in a variety of ways.