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THE PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY PROJECT

The Overhaul of the Fire Engine Room Mural–William McKinley Presidential Library & Museum, Canton, Ohio.

For more than ten years, an image of horses in a stall occupied the main wall in the fire engine room display of the William McKinley Presidential Library & Museum in Canton, Ohio. Michael proposed a new concept to both the director and president of the museum. Michael’s interest was to, ‘entertain, educate and enlighten’ the patrons of the museum. Work continues to this day on the volunteer job by Michael alone. Michael wants to give back to the museum he enjoyed taking his children to some years before. The final painting is composed of interior house paint, pastel and oil paint air-brushed on. Pastel lends itself well to the texture desired by the artist. An acrylic coating is applied via airbrush upon finishing the pastel layer. Among the original enlargement concepts of the artist was to use horizontal and vertical strings to form a grid. Several strings with duck tape folded at their bottom are then tied loosely to the horizontal strings to perform as vertical reference. They can be slid along the horizontal strings. This maintains the grid system for both enlargement and point-reference while remaining unpainted, unlike what would happen to lines drawn on the surface of the wall.