Shah Hadjebi, Marti Koehler, Mariapia Malerba, and Wilson McCray are painting a mural on paper at BIG ARTS now through Oct. 24.
It’s a mammoth project — as tall as a person and as long as a football field with both end zones included.
It’s also the first time the four artists have worked with each other, says Malerba.
“It's quite interesting because how do you work with the people that you're meeting for the first time and creating a project and merging different styles?” Malerba asked.
Malerba took a pragmatic approach. She had them create a sketch for each wall of the gallery.
“I created the first big wall, the frontal one, and they loved it,” said Malerba. “So what we did, we created this projection so everybody can work faster and more in harmony considering the fact that we all have different hands.”
Marti Koehler came up with the idea for how to integrate the drawings.
“She took a sponge with some ink and just went through the walls, moving her arm up and down and created this beautiful movement,” Malerba noted.
The result is breathtaking and the perfect habitat for the birds the artists are now adding to the mural.
“It's layers of thought process. It's layers of techniques and different hands and personality,” Malerba observed. “It's very organic, spontaneous. But the energy between all of us, I think it's what matters the most.”
Since it is being painted on paper, the mural can be rolled up and shown elsewhere when the exhibition at BIG ARTS is over. But part of the fun right now is watching the mural take shape as the artists work intermittently over the next several weeks.
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“Birds!! No Words” is a celebration and a revelation. Each artist is contributing their experience and expertise, but as a group, they bring their collective spiritual connection with nature.
The mural is being created in the Dunham Family Gallery.
Malerba credits Wilson McCray with the idea for them to collaborate on a mural.
“He really liked [my previous projects] where I wrapped galleries with big paper and all that. And so he goes, Mariapia, I think it would be a fun project to get together and collaborate with different artists,” said Malerba.
Just before the start of the pandemic, Malerba wrapped the Capital Gallery at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center with a mural on paper she called “Shadopia.” That exhibition covered 208 uninterrupted lineal feet or recycled paper panels taped together into a single “canvas” reminiscent of Bob Rauschenberg’s “1/4 Mile or 2 Furlong Piece” (1981-98). But unlike that work, Mariapia confined her pallet to various shades of black.
Since each of the artists is interested in nature and environmental concerns, McCray further suggested the theme of “birds, no words.”
In Malerba’s case, the theme of “Shadopia” was animals that are either endangered or facing extinction, including elephants (with fewer than 400,000 remaining in the wild), giraffes (whose numbers have declined by 40 percent to just 97,000), rhinos (fewer than 25,000 remain, with the last northern white male dying in 2018) and the right whale (whose population has dwindled to less than 500).
“I liked the idea [of collaborating on a mural with three other artists because I never get to really experience that because I'm quite busy like everybody," Malerba said.
In Malerba’s case, she works full time as a designer for White House Black Market at Chico’s in addition to actively pursuing a career as a visual artist and filmmaker.
In fact, Malerba also has a painting on display in the Naples Invitational Biennial exhibition at the Naples Art Institute through Nov. 30. It’s titled “Liquid Light.”
“It’s a peony, but it’s underwater,” Malerba said.
“I paint flowers often,” she explained. “That's part of my job. I thought, how can I do it differently? How can I create a painting that in which the subject lives not necessarily in the way that we always see, but underwater?”
That perspective gave Malerba the opportunity to draw a closer connection with emotion.
“I dream a lot about water, and so I thought about how beautiful it would be to imagine this in an environment that is completely different. You know, peonies are generally outside, right? So that's what it is. It's more like an exploration for emotion than, you know, the subject itself.”
Malerba has a background in fine art, architecture and set design, and has collaborated with global houses including Versace, Dolce & Gabbana and Cavalli. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Biennale in Rome and Florence.
Rooted in her earliest memory of watching her grandmother weave on a handmade loom, Malerba’s art is a continuation of that rhythm – the act of weaving love, memory and meaning into form. Working across painting, hand-painted textiles, video and large-scale installations, she transforms spaces into multisensory experiences where movement, sound, light and material become a choreography of transformation.
Through her work, she invites viewers into states of wonder, reflection and awakening – an encounter with beauty that reignites the fire within and encourages each person to remember their own voice. “Liquid Light” is a meditation on hidden depths, where light bends, beauty blooms and transformation stirs beneath the surface.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.