A NEW MURAL MEETS IRIS AVE
Photo courtesy of Triathlete Magazine
This year for “International WORKSHOP8 Day” we dedicated our community service to help a friend, a cyclist, an advocate, and founder of #itcouldbeme. When Triny Willerton came to WORKSHOP8 with a vision for a mural to promote bike safety, it was a “no-brainer,” as a studio comprised of cyclists and runners, to devote our design services to her cause. Triny founded the #itcouldbeme movement in 2018 after a pickup truck hit her while riding in Boulder.
Located at 2000 Iris Avenue in North Boulder, the mural serves as a bright and colorful reminder for drivers to exercise caution around cyclists and pedestrians.
STEP 1: IDE8 (IDEATE)
This mural was different from past ones because Triny and Natalie (who generously donated her wall to be painted) already had a pretty solid idea for the mural concept. We knew the cause and were told to follow a “rainbow-y and blue” color palette. Given the cause and colors, Brandy put together a bunch of playful concepts and sent them out to our team for a digital “desk crit”.
After our team weighed in, Brandy made a few minor adjustments and sent all the concepts to Triny and Natalie.
The concept underwent some revision based on the request from Triny and Natalie to add a Call-to-Action, “SAFER ROADS TOGETHER.”
STEP 2: DIMENSION AND OUTLINE THE ARTWORK
Similar to past years, Marcel volunteered to get on-site early to start laying out the linework. The rest of the team trickled in throughout the day (social distance style) to paint in the colors — just like a big giant coloring book.
It was a hot, 90-degree day so the paint was drying fast. That meant that we were able to layout the stencils sooner than anticipated! Brandy edited the figures using Adobe Illustrator, and I was lucky to have found Charles Mason at Boulder Works Inc, who was able to laser cut our designs onto recyclable cardboard. #itcouldbeme was a logo file provided by Triny.
STEP 3: PAUSE FOR PHOTOSHOOT
Typically, at this point in the day we take an intermission for a group photoshoot where we take fun jumping pictures and cram a crew of 12 into one frame. You could say this year was definitely unlike the rest, but we got one in anyways!
STEP 4: MAKE A SUPER COOL PRODUCTION VIDEO
Ivan is a man of gadgets and brought along his GoPro, Sony Action Camera, and DJI Mavic Drone to film and produce this cool time-lapse video for us. Sydney pitched in on some production help, too! Enjoy this video set to an instrumental version of Queen’s “Bicycle Race.”
STEP 5: IT’S A WRAP!
Painting a mural is a fun team bonding activity, and we received positive feedback from cyclists and drivers passing by. Check out the before and after!
You should know by now that Toby the Octopus always makes his appearance.
Thanks for reading!
Be on the lookout for the W8 Crew painting our next mural as part of the Boulder Street Wise Festival, running September 7th – 13th. We’ll be working with 6 other mural artist at the old Liquor Mart building at 15th and Canyon, painting a mural called “HOUSING FOR ALL” to promote housing equity and inclusion — a cause dear to our multiple hearts.
Maris DuBois | Studio Manager
