The first mural at the Duke Energy substation is complete.
The mural is the first of five murals to be painted on the walls of the Duke substation at the corner of North Rogers and West 11th Street.
The mural’s design was created with feedback from the neighboring Maple Heights community. It features the community’s plants and local cats, and Bloomington residents were able to volunteer to paint the mural.
This is the first mural that artist Caleb Poer has created. It’s also the largest project he’s worked on.
Poer, Emily Wilson Gillespie and Diego Manansala collaborated on the design and brought the idea to life. One of Poer’s artistic choices was the flower people.
“I wanted them to be flower people and plant people, because we're coming into it with this idea that you live and grow in this community,” he said. “The design of the mural was a porch party that's cascading out into this larger community. And so it's about how you plant your roots here and grow here. I felt like that was a unique way of portraying that concept.”
The project is a collaboration between the city and Duke Energy, which gave a $25,000 grant to support the project. This mural is on the south-facing side of the structure and measures 64 feet wide by 16 feet tall.
Poer estimates the mural used up 20 cans of spray paint and about 10 gallons of paint.
“We went through a ton of purple, which I wasn't expecting,” he said.
There are also a few hidden references in the mural for keen-eyed viewers, including one of the flower characters whistling the first notes to "(Back Home Again in) Indiana."
Read more: ‘Chasing the light’: Leaf peeping with a painter
CORRECTION: The story originally said the mural is located off of South Rogers Street. This is incorrect, and has been updated.
