The Punta Gorda Mural Society’s next mural will pay tribute to the Rotary Club of Punta Gorda. But Lake Alfred artist Keith Goodson is not painting “Rotary: A Century of Service” on its future home on the west wall of the Ace Hardware building on Marion Avenue. Instead, he has painted it on mural cloth that will be affixed to two aluminum panels, which are currently in fabrication. The panels will enable the Mural Society to remove and relocate the mural should the building ever be damaged or torn down.
More and more muralists and mural societies are opting for mural cloth on aluminum over painting directly on concrete as a more effective means of preserving and protecting historic-based mural art for future generations.
The mural’s dedication will take place Nov. 5.
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Funds for the project were raised by the Rotary Club of Punta Gorda.
The Rotary Club of Punta Gorda was chartered by Rotary International on April 25, 1925 and is one of the oldest service clubs in Charlotte County. Initially designated as club No. 2001, it was later changed to club No. 4337. The charter members consisted of 17 local businessmen.
The Punta Gorda Mural Society is recounting the 100-year history of the Rotary Club in its digital monthly newsletter.
Keith Goodson is a Florida-based realist/photorealist artist located in Lake Alfred. He has painted murals for towns across Florida, most notably 19 murals in Lake Placid, as well as murals in Titusville, Lake City and Avon Park. In addition, he has worked for major companies like Universal Studios, Disney, and Sea World as an artist and consultant.
The Punta Gorda Mural Society has a number of other Goodson murals in its collection.
Like “Rotary: A Century of Service,” “Boating in Paradise” (2022) was an original commission.
The Punta Gorda Mural Society commissioned several others to replace murals that were either destroyed in 2004 by Hurricane Charley or which were compromised by defects in the stucco and concrete walls on which they were painted, including:
- “The Life and Times of George Brown,” for which Goodson repainted a design originally rendered by Michael Vires on a concrete wall that became compromised several years later by water intrusion);
- “Local Black History,” which he “refreshed” in 2023 to include new content and a new design);
- “Historic Punta Gorda Army Air Field,” which replaced a mural originally painted in 2002 by artist Edwin Yip that was destroyed by Hurricane Charley;
- “Captivating Charlotte County,” which replaces both a mural that artist Liz Hutchinson painted in 1998 that was destroyed by Hurricane Charley in 2004 and its 2007 replacement that deteriorated due to “wall surface issues”;
- “Developing Minds and Bodies,” which replaced a 2006 mural that “deteriorated over the years due to wall surface issues);
- “Harbor Bridges,” which replaces the original mural painted by artist Liz Hutchinson in 2008; and
- “Hotel Punta Gorda” (2024), which replaced the original mural painted in 2011 by artist Charles Peck on the south-facing wall of the Charlevoi Condos that was lost in April 2019 when the wall was restuccoed.
Because of the foregoing experiences, the Punta Gorda Historic Mural Society now prefers to have its muralists use mural cloth on aluminum panels rather than painting on stucco or concrete “to avoid future issues with a building’s walls.”
Mural cloth is non-woven fabric that is primed with two coats of high-quality interior / exterior primer. It can be worked on with almost any paint and media. The cloth can be adhered directly to a wall or an aluminum panel using an acrylic gel. Because of the polymers in the gel, the resulting finish hardens into a tile-like enamel patina that can be protected from sunlight and graffiti using a combination of UV and anti-graffiti protection products that can be refreshed every few years to extend the life of the mural from several years to several decades.
Many muralists and mural societies are opting for mural cloth on aluminum, termed by some as “the parachute cloth technique." Not only does the use of mural cloth on aluminum panel better protect and preserve the underlying mural from damage and destruction since the panels are removable, it entails less disruption of the business location where the mural is installed and enables traditional studio artists to participate in mural art.
For more, read/hear “Punta Gorda and Fort Myers mural societies enhancing mural longevity with new technology.”
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.
