Cleveland

It was a privilege to return to Redland Museum for my sixth commission since completing the entrance murals in early 2000’s. Ive worked with Redland Museum on a variety of projects including Strawberry Fields & Grand View Hotel the Printery Display and the Woodworking Display and this time around I was set the task to create a backdrop for the Garage Display. As always I worked with the volunteers and staff and relied on their expertise to ensure accuracy. A large corner wall with various surface textures was challenging. I balanced specific details from historical photographs with the existing site to try and create a design that works aesthetically given the size, scale and viewing angles. The design is based on Mander Bros Garage which opened in Bloomfield Street in 1939 and operated until 1972 before being replaced by a shopping arcade.

Redland Museum

This woodworking mural at Redland Museum is one of many that Sauce has created over the past ten years for the organisation. Since Sauce has painted many different backdrops in the museum, he suggested for this mural could be painted in a sepia tone. This creates a point of difference for the numerous displays. The colour scheme also adds a layer of historicity for the narrative of the display, which included assorted logging machinery. It was also important to ensure the content of the mural was historically accurate, so under the direction of the Redland Museum staff, I found various images from the library archives which could be suitable, however since photographic technology wasn't great back then, and they probably weren't thinking about providing references pictures for mural artists, some of the design was pieced together using information as provided by the staff. The accuracy also meant Sauce focused on some of the smaller details and he used a variety of methods, including paintbrush, aerosol and airbrushing to create the different layers of the mural. 

Peace,

Ainslie Rose. 

Redland Museum

Late last year, we received a phone call from Redlands Museum with a request for an interior mural with a horse ploughing a field. “Easy done!” I said. “No worries mate.” That was before I learnt it was a 14m x 6m wall. But, with Sauce being a professional I was confident the mural would be an interesting and suitable challenge. 

After some further consultation with the staff and volunteers, the theme and images were determined. The layout and design was relatively simple as the concept needed to be historically accurate since it was a part of the tractor display in the museum. The staff and volunteers at the museum were great to work with and it was refreshing to see such a professionally managed facility. With any luck, Sauce will be painting more backdrops and murals for the museum to help set the scene for their carefully curated displays. 

Update on 2014-03-04 00:54 by sauce

This mural made it into the local paper. 

Update on 2014-04-22 01:46 by sauce

The team at Redland Museum were so impressed with Sauce’s work on the farming display, they decided to commission him for a second mural for the Grand View Hotel display. The Grand View Hotel was the first licensed establishment in Queensland and is located in Cleveland, Redland City. The pub still stands today and as past residents of Redland City, both Sauce and myself have enjoyed a beverage or two at the old pub, especially on Christmas Eve, but that’s another story.

This mural was one of the most challenging and intricate murals Sauce has undertaken since the backdrop required a high level of detail to recreate the historic pub. The angle of the mural was also significant, as the pre-existing doors needed to be worked into the mural.

As always, the staff and volunteers were amazing to work with. Sauce tells me he was fed scones with jam and cream and had free reign over the tea room. Excitement indeed!