A one minute video we made, showing the AT&T Building in Downtown Shreveport, Louisiana… Which is home to the largest publicly-funded mural in the nation… A huge community effort. It was produced by a team of professional artists and 2,600 community painters under the guidance of muralist Meg Saligman. Ms. Saligman, a nationally and internationally recognized mural artist, perfected a “paint by number” grid that is applied to sheets of plastic cloth. Once painted, the cloth was “floated in acrylic” on the wall, much like wallpaper installation.
During the first two months of the Millennium Year, Ms. Saligman and the staff of the Shreveport Regional Arts Council met with more than 75 organizations, interviewed hundreds of individuals about their ideas and heritage, photographed thousands of people for the mural and read hundreds of books written about the Shreveport area.
Paint parties were held all over Shreveport, with festival sites, parks, club meetings, art galleries, bank lobbies, and schools serving as sites for painting sessions. The public commitment to work on the mural was incredible, with more than 40 percent of the total mural being painted by the community.
The result of their hard work is breathtaking … in both its scope and its beauty. Filled with images large and small, it is a monument to the people of Shreveport, and to the city’s rich heritage.
The 19 people depicted in the mural are from three months to 80 years of age. The models were selected randomly from a cast of thousands, and reflect “diversity in ethnicity, religion, gender, age, and neighborhood.”
Each of the 40 objects shown in the mural is an heirloom that has meaning to a family or person in the Shreveport/Bossier community.
The woman on the South wall is holding a glowing flame in an orb, which “symbolizes Shreveport’s hopes and dreams for the future.” Her billowing skirts represent “wind.”