Austin artist Fidencio Duran began the new mural, “Our Royal Line”, at Dublin Dr Pepper on May 1st. It was completed on June 8th. The mural is a result of a private/public partnership between The Texas Commision On The Arts and the world's oldest Dr Pepper
bottling plant in Dublin, Texas. Below is a photo essay of the progress of the mural, with comments from DDP Creative Director Jeff Pendleton and Fidencio.
Dublin Dr Pepper is proud to partner with the Texas Commission on the Arts
celebrating the anniversaries of both organizations. For its 40th anniversary celebration, TCA is orchestrating a yearlong series of 40 events across the state to thank Texans for their appreciation and contributions to the unique culture that makes Texas the State of the Arts. Those events will included "Texas Originals", a collaboration with our own 115th birthday celebration, here in Dr Pepper (aka Dublin)Texas on June 10th.
That Dublin Dr Pepper and TCA would get together was a natural. Since its inception in 1965, the Texas Commission on the Arts (TCA) has composed, sketched, directed and played its part to ensure the arts thrive in Texas. Dublin Dr Pepper has long sought to encourage Texans to include art in their daily lives.
The crowning achievement of TCA and Dublin Dr Pepper joining forces would be
this 9 by 30 foot mural to be painted above the entrance to the historic bottling plant. It is an incredible artistic work and destined to be a tourist attraction in its own right.
Jeff: I relayed to Fidencio that Mark Kloster wanted to not only portray the company's history with this mural. He wanted to pay homage to Grace Lyons, daughter of Sam Houston Prim and owner/manager thru the turbulent 40's.
"Grace had to overcome so many challenges,” Mark had told me. “her father's illness, the loss of her husband, the sugar rationing of World War 2 and the struggle to run the plant while Sales manager Bill Kloster was off at the war. Grace was a strong business woman in a time when that was not usual. I want to see her shine in this painting."
With these instructions Fidencio immersed himself in Dublin Dr Pepper's history and came back with a mural design that more than pleased the company. It would be 9 feet by 30 feet, centered over the bottling plant doors.
Fidencio: I redrew the composition with acrylic paint over a chalkline grid. The figures will be literally larger than life.
Jeff: We had considered an electric lift but the scaffolding was the right decision. It gave him the freedom to work anywhere on the mural at any time.
Fidencio: The awning saved us from the Texas heat and wind. It makes the mural more intriguing.
Fidencio: Having an assistant to fill in large areas of color really helps move the progress of the mural along.
Jeff: By the end of the second week Fidencio had completed the portrait of Grace Prim Lyons. One goal of this mural is to give Grace her due, so to speak. She held the plant together during the rough WW2 years when her father was ill, Bill Kloster and other key employees were off at war, and when sugar was rationed. Fidencio did just as we asked. He made Grace shine.
Fidencio: The large areas begin to fill with color. I was inspired by the many different grays of the plant interior and the different pieces of bottling equipment.
Jeff: One afternoon I was making my way up the ladder and looked up to see Sam Houston Prim's newly painted face looking back at me. It was almost photographic! This painting is truly coming to life!
Fidencio: We continue to develop the spaces of the mural. The staircase leads the viewer to the center of the composition.
Fidencio: I use the green from the delivery truck to help coordinate the flow of the compostion. It will be represented in the machinery, walls and bottles.
Fidencio: At this point the images start becoming clean with modeling of lights and darks for a greater sense of volume.
Jeff: I was especially pleased to see that Fidencio put the names on the old bottling line wall. It was tradition to scratch your name in the wall...if you could do it without getting caught. There are signatures dating back to 1911. When the soda shop was built the names were covered over, but not before they were carefully photographed and catalogued. By putting such details into the mural he gives us even more opportunity to tell in depth the story of the oldest Dr Pepper bottling plant in the world.
Fidencio: Small details can take as much time as larger areas. In some large ones only one color is needed. For 3-D forms, I must mix at least 3 tonalities of the same color. Setting in the bottling plant equipment helped Patriotic Girl stand out and seem even more dimensional. The equipment is simplified to present the essential character of their forms.
Fidencio: Sam Prim projects confidence and boldness in this portrait. I think I captured some of his spirit. It took 5 or 6 tones for his face and hands. To represent the caramel color of the Dr Pepper bottle I started with a light vivid orange. Then I applied various layers of dark red tranparencies. I used Golden GAC200 as the medium.
Fidencio: With the GAC200 I can create transparencies and luminous glazes for objects such as glass and water. The many bottles in this mural are represented using glazes of aqua green. Highlights are made by using an opaque tint mixture.
Jeff: The morning Fidencio finished, many employees climbed the ladder to take one last close-up look at the mural. Soon the scaffolding would come down in preparation for the birthday and after that the only view would be from street level. Mark and Fidencio were the last ones down.
The day dawned on birthday-eve to a new fixture at Dublin Dr Pepper. The mural, named “Our Royal Line”, will reside in a place of royalty to us....With Old Doc’s Soda Shop on one side and the statue of Bill Kloster on the other. And the doors leading to the Oldest Dr Pepper Bottling Company in the world...right below.
