10,000 by Brian Holderman

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There was a completely different Sprout Fund mural titled Wilkinsburg by Brian Holderman at this location in 2003. The original design was much smaller – only using a small portion of the lower right side of the wall. We found a photo of the previous mural on page 7 of the Wilkensburg Community Development Corporation (WCDC) 2010 annual report. Not a great photo of the old mural, but the best we’ve been able to find so far.

The WCDC wanted to expand the mural to complement the new parklet beside that building. The art is part of their program to preserve, restore and enhance the borough’s appearance through artistic expression. Going through the Sprout Fund once again, they initially were working with a different artist for the new mural, but when there were creative differences they asked Brian Holderman to come back and create the new design. According to information from the Sprout Fund, because of the parklet and the community interest in environmental improvement Mr Holderman chose a design that complemented the mural’s pastoral surroundings. He used his sophisticated sense of color combined with an animated style to create a scene that integrated with it’s surroundings, rather than clash with it.

Jesse Best assisted in the painting and he has photos posted on his blog of the work in progress. See the entries for Sep 21 and Oct 17 2010 on that page.

UPDATE
November 2014

While discussing the mural inside Thick Bikes with bike shop owner Chris Beech, we found out that Chris had some photos of the original mural that was here. He took them during a Bike Fest Mural ride, where they rode to see several of the area murals. He was nice enough to dig them out to share with us:

Photo by Chris Beech.

Photo by Chris Beech.