High technology allows accessibility to Minor’s timeless design, universal message

24-foot mural by noted illustrator installed at West Aurora High School

Aurora, Ill. -- When noted book illustrator Wendell Minor was approached to create a mural at West Aurora High School, he knew time and financial constraints would prohibit his physically painting it on the 24-foot wall.

“Let’s face it,” Minor said. “There’s no way I can come out and paint a mural.”

So Minor and officials at West High looked to technology, a local printer to implement the work, and found a solution for the mural’s creation by Minor without his ever stepping foot inside the school.

Tom Im, owner of Speedi-Sign in Naperville oversaw the enlargement and printing on panels of an original painting by Minor. The panels are installed at Aurora West High School, while the original painting will be displayed in its library.

Minor’s design, melded with this new technological twist, has enabled the muralšs accessibility for all.

Minor used acrylic paints on a 1/4 scale canvas, 28 inches high by six feet long. Then he supplied the Naperville print shop with a large 8 by 10-inch transparency of the painting.

Im mailed the transparency to a vendor in Florida because this shop’s printer is one of a few nationwide that can make heavy prints protected from UV light with a life expectancy of 10 years or so.

The transparency was scanned. Photoshop and Illustrator software was used to enlarge Minor’s design. It was tiled on self adhesive panels, like contact paper, in a method similar to what is used to print billboards today.

Im credited Minor for knowing just how large to create his painting so the resolution gleaned from a transparency of it could be high enough for viewers to see a clear image from up close when the mural was enlarged to 24-foot wide and nine feet tall.

“There is a man who really understands our industry,” Im said.

According to Im, the large printer that was used is akin to a large ink jet, using toners rather than ink. And that is what’s tricky, he said.

Matching colors, especially on a subtle work of art, is essential. A series of at least four proof stages was pulled before final approval of the print was made, Im said. Minute adjustments in hue were made each time until the color matched the original painting as closely as possible. Skin color in Lincoln’s face, as the mural’s focal point, was especially critical, Im said. Finally, three separate versions of flesh tones in the facial area were sent up from the Florida printer to gain approval for one of them.

“If it was a normal, average job, color wouldn’t be that difficult,” Im said. ”But in this case, my reproduction is going to be the mural. It’s not easy trying to fill Wendell’s shoes.”

Upon final printing, rolls of the mural were shipped to Naperville for installation at West High. Finger prints and occasional cleaning that would harm a traditionally painted mural are nothing to this 3-M product, according to Im. And if panels ever need replacement for any reason, new ones can be printed and installed, he said.

So while the mural’s physical properties are ensured to continue undimmed throughout time, its message is designed to endure as well, Minor stressed.

“I wanted the message to be universal and timeless,” Minor said.

To that end, Minor said he chose Lincoln as the subject for the mural because, “He’s a true visionary.”

Lincoln came of age in Illinois, moving to New Salem, at age 21. With only a year of formal education, Lincoln remains the most eloquent of all White House residents, Minor said. He is the most admired man throughout the world, he said.

Minor’s design depicts Lincoln in his teens, leaning against a tree as he reads a book. A log cabin, door open, and a freshly plowed field lies in the background. Overhead soars a red-tailed hawk..

Minor chose to include a quote by Lincoln, “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.”

As Minor explained, “I’m trying to say, ‘Humble beginnings in your hometown can lead to big things.’”

Minor has been studying Lincoln for illustrations for an upcoming book Abe Lincoln Remembers by Ann Turner, which will be released on Lincoln’s Birthday 2001.

Minor said he hopes the mural will inspire young people to study history, read, further their education, but perhaps most of all -- get in touch with nature.

“I’m a firm believer that technology is important,” said Minor. “But there’s a soul and a spirit that needs to be addressed.”