AgencyEA contacted Pochis Bank Art Studio with an opportunity to create a large-scale interactive 3D pavement mural to serve as a backdrop for the unveiling of Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital’s new building. Over the course of two days in August, Nancy and Studio Artists Grace Brandt, Brandin Hurley, Emma Moss, Shane Taylor, and Brittney Williams worked to make a bridge, waterfall, and butterfly jump off the pavement.

The Studio worked with AgencyEA and consulted the hospital staff in order to produce the eventual bridge scene. The clients were interested in a backdrop that mirrored the idyllic landscape surrounding the hospital’s new building and the design incorporated elements of the water and foliage of the area. After producing a two-dimensional version of the artwork, we had to stretch the scene so that it was over 37 feet long and 13 feet wide in order for the three-dimensional effect to work.

Nancy and the studio artists spent the beginning of the first day laying out a grid for the artwork. Using references that had already been stretched to the intended dimensions, the studio’s team outlined the different elements and began filling them in with a base coat of tempera paint. Eventually each of the artists was adding detail to different sections, some focusing on the water and bridge while others worked on the greenery or butterfly. The size of this work was necessary not only to make it 3D, but also to make it interactive. By the end of our second day, event staff were approaching the scene and asking to take photographs walking across the bridge or trying to catch the butterfly.

Pochis Bank Art Studio’s first foray into three dimensional pavement art was an unbridled success.