Corsa Apartments Mural - Tailwind
The parking ramp mural at Corsa Apartments in St. Louis Park is a whopping 220'x40', and I was stoked to get to paint this mural for the Opus Group with support from St. Louis Park Friends of the Arts in 2023! At the time, it was the largest mural I had painted in my career, and painting at that scale was just incredible.
When I was awarded this massive project I was tasked with coming up with an image that represented the name of the apartment complex, Corsa, and the people who would inhabit and use the surrounding the spaces. Steel Toe Brewery, directly across from the mural had a say in the design direct, because their patrons would enjoy viewing the mural at all times of the year.
Corsa means "to run," or "to be active on a course" in latin. I took this concept and ran with it. Yes, pun intended. The colors were to be bright, bold, and vibrant to attract attention from a distance. And there was to be dynamic movement throughout.
The Corsa Apartments are surrounded by active spaces such as the Southwest LRT multi-use trail system for walking, running, and cycling. Nature areas like Bass Lake, Wolfe Park, and the Chain of Lakes in Minneapolis are not far from the apartment complex. Plus, we embrace our 4-season climates in Minnesota - the elements blowing through the length of the mural represent that.
All of these elements together, cycling, running, active play with your pet, nature, and seasons come together to make up the "Tailwind" mural.
Above and below are images taken of the mural in progress. First, primer was applied to the the vast image area of the wall. The sketch was projected in phases from atop the adjacent buildings in order to get the correct scale. Next, a yellow foundation paint was applied as an under-painting to really "punch" the bright colors.
The majority of the large color fields on the mural were applied by paint sprayer to cover quickly and throughly.
Finally outlines and highlights are applied to make the image come to life and pop!
Kelly Hanson from Twin Cities Live on KSTP came out to do a story about the Tailwind mural about half-way through the process. It was a fun morning with harnesses, lifts, elevation, and painting.
The Corsa mural also features an augmented reality function that Rem5 Studios in St. Louis Park put together. This AR movie shows the mural coming to life as viewed through a user's phone.
