When the city of International Falls approached local artist Bruce Trask about painting a mural on the west side of the Bob Walls Memorial Union Hall, he jumped on board.
International Falls has been granted $6,000 by the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council to create another mural within the city. The money will be used to hire Trask.
Mayor Shawn Mason has said that the addition of murals within the city is a part of the International Falls “fight on blight” campaign and intended to beautify the city.
Trask last fall completed a mural along the side of the building owned and occupied by Island View Realty reflecting the old Border Theater.
This time, Trask will highlight the many union trades that have worked and continue to work in the community.
“According to Ted Garner, there are nine different intelligent areas of human understanding,” Trask explained. “I will use figures to indicate those areas while celebrating men and women working in common labor conditions in this mural.”
Trask added that he hopes this mural will create a happy atmosphere and achieve a bold color statement.
The mural will include a river boat carrying men and women travelers. Trask said this portion of the mural will represent people who came to the International Falls area.
From there, Trask will illustrate a home setting. “The figures I will use in the home setting represent people who lived and who are still living in this area,” he said.
The mural will also portray what Trask describes as “the fruits of labor.” He will create a man pushing a log through a buzz saw to represent production, men and women farming, a logger, a man and a woman with a shovel, a man harvesting ice, a fisherman with nets, figures panning for gold and a man and woman ricing.
“I may also include men and women mining,” said Trask. “After all, mining in Rainy Lake City is what originally brought many people here.”
Trask noted that he will use imperfections in the wall as if they are a part of his work of art.
“The buzz saw sketch will cover a damaged brick area in the wall, and there is a large vertical crack I will cover with a tree between the traveling and home settings,” he said.
Trask explained that he has a lot of fun creating the murals he paints and is just waiting for the city to approve his sketch so he can get started.
“I received a lot of compliments on my previous mural,” he said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how this one turns out.”
He added that he is also looking forward to adding figures in this mural, especially because much of his work doesn’t include any. Trask said that City Administrator Rod Otterness expressed that he’d like figures to be included.
While the proposed sketch is complete, Trask said ideas are still being developed for the mural he hopes to start work on this spring.
“I’ve researched several pictures I’ve collected over the years and am always getting new ideas,” he said.
The mural will have what Trask describes as a unique flow of color throughout and it will take him the entire summer to complete.
“Overall, I hope people can look at this mural that represents the nine areas of human intelligence and they can interpret what they want,” Trask said. “I’m just doing the best I can and I have the confidence that will be enough to get me through.”
