The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is one of the best museums in the south east, home to some incredible treasures, and we’re pleased to be able to say we’re featured in not one, but two locations. The Discovery Room project was a very special, highly in-depth mural with 3-dimensional features, completed in 2021. Watch a timelapse of the entire process is HERE.
Here is how the room appeared before the upfit. One element that was baked into the project was the idea that a tree should appear centrally. An angled bump-out was created with drywall before any painting began. The thematic idea from the start was to have this mural function as a teaching element in the discovery room, a fantastic, hands-on place for gathering and learning for children. Early on it was decided we would have prehistoric beings roam the right hand side of the image, and then modern birds appearing on the left hand side of the tree, showing the clear correlation between evolutionary properties shared by both groups.
This is the rough copy of the design that was finalized after a series of incredibly detailed focus group information sessions with the staff of the NCMNS. The 3-dimensional dinosaur nest element can be seen in the right, central area. There was much shuffling of flora and fauna to create the correct balance, and to make sure each represented entity got their due focus.
After day 1! The initial lay-in was helpful for blocking the large masses, but this mural was all about detail work. The entire job took about three weeks. Luckily (at the time) the museum was closed due to COVID, meaning we had the ability to work at any time without interruption.
Finished detail of dog-sized Psittacosaurus appearing in the lower right. It was important to represent dinos that actually appear in the fossil record of North Carolina, which these little cuties do.
Another detail. Of course, there are some animals that remain relatively unchanged, even over millions of years. This was particularly fun to paint.
Naturally, perched on the window sill to the extreme left would be a modern pigeon. Pro-tip: leftover birthday plates make create palettes in a pinch.
Voila, the finished product with all costumes, nest, and sundry items reinstalled alongside!