From Warrior Kings to Runways: Petals and Promises Prom Mural
Logan’s newest mural by the Laub Plaza
The story of our latest mural for Petals and Promises starts May 22, 1521, at the great battle for Tenochtitlan.
King Cuitláhuac on La Ranchera exterior mural
It was there that Montezuma’s brother, the heroic Warrior King Cuitláhuac, led his people against the invading Conquistadors. Obsidian blades shattering against Spanish steel through a battle that would rage for 93 days and nights.
Inspired as I was by the durability of the Warrior King Cuitláhuac, when asked to paint a mural on the front wall of Logan, Utah’s favorite Mexican market, La Ranchera, Cuitláhuac was the most worthy subject I could think of.
For me, he represents a resilience and determination worthy of universal admiration, while also serving as a colorful reference to a rich Latin heritage.
So, how does this relate to a painting of beautiful women on a fashion runway?
Proximity.
I first met Lindsey Hawkes while installing the La Ranchera murals—we did five murals for them. Lindsey has her thumb on the pulse of the community, and we quickly came to find that we had many mutual acquaintances.
It had been a goal of mine to install a classy mural in the downtown area. We had already approached multiple businesses with mural ideas in that same aesthetic vein, so when Lindsey told us what she was looking for, we were all enthusiastic to get started.
Designing the Petals and Promises Prom Mural
In progress photo of the mural
The design of the dresses was informed by sketches made by Lindsey’s daughter, who had just left on an LDS mission but will hopefully be sent pictures of the finished mural.
We wanted to take a new approach with this one: high detail paired with a muted, tasteful selection of colors.
We started with a tone map of the scene, rendered entirely in black and white using a cut-away stencil technique.
Once we had our tones, we glazed a mix of exterior paints and colorless UV-protective glaze over the design, section by section.
This is not a common approach, but it should be.
It’s a really handy process for adding colors ex post facto and a good way to center your tones, raising the black point and bringing down the highlights. It allowed us to preserve the depth and detail of the original black-and-white rendering while introducing color in a much more controlled way.
New USU freshman in Logan, UT visiting the mural
An Unexpected Rooftop Visit
Just as the installation was nearing completion, I was suddenly joined on the roof by 25 college students with dubious authorization to be climbing, one by one, up my client’s ladder and onto the roof where I was working.
But each one of them had a youthful creative spark in their eyes.
I issued them all an accommodating, “Welcome to Logan!” and an invitation to get involved with our local art scene here.
Luckily, upon later survey by multiple property owners and a roofer, it was found that there was no structural damage to the roof.
A few touch-ups and some new embroidered flowers on one of the dresses—at Lindsey’s request—and the project was complete.
What Kind of City Do We Want Logan to Be?
The completed mural in downtown Logan
I love Logan.
I love what it means to the people who live here.
I love the value created by the healthy circulation of visitors, provided in part by the USU campus, tourism-generating events, local businesses, and the establishments that give people a reason to spend time here.
There is a wholesomeness here. A safety. A sense of common compassion.
It’s these exact defining characteristics that we should all seek to preserve as the city grows.
And it’s growing fast.
Fast-growing cities are culturally malleable, which is why we need to have a real conversation about what we want our city to be.
What are our goals as a community?
I would hope that we, as a community, could trade xenophobia for openness. That we could strive to make our town as beautiful as possible. That we could care about our infrastructure, care about our citizens, and set an example for how to preserve the spirit of a community as it scales.
Public art is one small part of that.
The things we paint on our walls, the businesses we support, the spaces we create, and the stories we choose to tell all contribute to the culture of the place we call home.
I have high hopes that we can establish Logan as a culturally relevant destination—the place it has long intended to be.
Let’s keep Logan beautiful, inside and out.
Tanner Stephenson, Muralist + Owner of The Logan Gallery
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