Chuck Webster & David Ellis
Barnstormers

Barnstormers is a collective of New York City artists who create large-scale collaborative murals. The group has produced two time-lapse films capturing a constantly changing mural painting created by many different artists. Barnstormers continue to experiment with performance and collaboration by painting murals to live music with DJs and bands in New York, Japan, and Cuba.

The Barnstormers are very interested in collaboration, spontaneous creativity and the public aspect of mural painting. Every year since 1999, Barnstormer founder David Ellis and about 20 other artists have made a trip to Cameron, North Carolina where the group painted a multitude of dilapidated barns, remnants of a faltering tobacco industry. There are about 45 Barnstormers altogether, although only about 20 at a time make the trip to Cameron.

Mural longevity is not as great a concern for the Barnstormers since the barns they paint on may fall apart before the murals will. Photo and film documentation are very important to the Barnstormers, however, and it is in this way they intend to preserve the imaginative murals created by members of the group. Because the barn-painting project is conceptually oriented, substrates are generally defined for the artists rather than chosen. Ellis says that they have encountered barns made of wood, metal, and cinderblock, although the barns are usually made of wood. Many of the wooden barns were covered in tarpaper, similar to asphalt roofing shingles, that served as a layer of insulation for barns used to dry tobacco. Some farmers ripped this paper off to prepare the surface for the artists, but Ellis discovered that the tarpaper actually made for an excellent substrate. It completely protected the surface from moisture that could seep through the back of the mural, was non-absorbent, and had a nice tooth to hold paint. The wood underneath the tarpaper, however, was extremely dry since it had been protected from moisture for so many years. When the first coat of paint was applied to these barns, so much was absorbed that the paint no longer could be seen. For a 20' X 20' barn surface, five to ten gallons of house paint were needed just to build up an adequate base coat.

Cost is a major factor for the Barnstormers since they don't receive paid commissions for their projects. They mostly use materials donated from paint companies and retailers. For this reason, materials vary widely depending on what is available. A lot of house paint is used, but artists bring their own GOLDEN Artist Colors and other artist paints for crucial details or key colors. In the past, for a protective finish, the Barnstormers spray-applied a clear, oil-based varnish that was also donated.

Chuck Webster, a member of the Barnstormers, adds a twist to making murals on a wooden substrate. On a 17' X 14' barn made of dried poplar wood, Chuck made a woodcut by carving into the barn siding. Although he used house paint to prime the substrate on this project, he recommends preparing substrates for woodcuts by sealing the wood with a 50:50 mixture of shellac and alcohol.

To get the basic image on the barn, Chuck used an overhead projector to enlarge a sketch that he made (this had to be done at night). Then he traced the projection in paint on the substrate. Chuck only had six days to complete the project, so the projection really helped him to speed up the process of getting a scaled image to work with. Chuck used traditional carving tools as well as a small, light weight chainsaw for carving out the surface (protective equipment is recommended). When the carving was done he rolled out a few gallons of red paint on a portion of the mural that was to be the printing surface. With the help of some other Barnstormers, Chuck successfully printed his mural onto a 9' by 7.5' sheet of paper.

To protect the mural, Chuck roller-applied a glossy exterior polyurethane topcoat. This worked well since there was minimal paint coverage, and Chuck also really appreciated the finished quality the glossy coat gave to the bare wood. Rain has plagued a couple of the Barnstormer trips, making the painting process more difficult and a lot messier. Since the trips usually lasted only 1 - 2 weeks, the Barnstormers persevered and painted anyway, setting up tarps or plastic tents to work under when necessary. In rainy situations, muralists using oil-based paints were more successful. Acrylic or latex paints had a tendency to wash off or run together.

Humidity in the North Carolina climate also affected the methodology of the mural painters. Because it was so humid, acrylic and oil-based products took longer than usual to dry. Since the Barnstormers were working on a tight schedule, it was important that the paint should dry quickly. Acrylic paint proved to be more advantageous in this regard, but they also mixed their oil-based products with Japan Drier to speed up the drying process. In some cases, mixing Japan Drier with the various paints produced cracking and other random effects. Since the Barnstormers enjoy spontaneity this was apparently no problem for them, but an artist looking for more controlled results should use caution when attempting this kind of application. The Barnstormers plan on continuing their annual trips to Cameron, North Carolina, and they also plan to continue filmmaking and performing internationally. The group is currently seeking more towns, neighbourhoods, or individual barn-owners interested in hosting Barnstormer mural projects.