Cultural Context of the Fox (Studio Mural)

Fastprint owner and Aurora Downtown president Kim Granholm has sponsored and collaborated with local Aurora Artist Cheryl Holz to create the art installation Aurora: Cultural Context of the Fox, their public contribution to the growing art scene in downtown Aurora.

Aurora Fastprint (54 E Galena Blvd, Aurora) has provided leadership and print services to the business community for decades and is now pioneering new technology to bring art to the exteriors of downtown Aurora.

The art installation going up on the building’s Northern face illustrate the building’s function and location downtown on the banks of the Fox river. The 2nd floor houses Aurora Artists Studios, which has provided affordable studio space to local artists since 1998.

• The painterly washes and splatters on the installation represent the art-making happening on the 2nd floor studios inside the building. The rest of the imagery reference Aurora’s rich cultural, artistic, musical, literary history and the beautiful Fox river that runs through it.
• The text running though the center is a poem called “Aurora” created specifically for this installation by Susan Schubert, a member of A-Town Politics, a local poetry group.
• Aurora’s rich musical history with the Blues is represented by a musical score of 12 bar blues that float through the river and appears in the upper left-hand corner as well. An electric blue guitar represents the ongoing support of the contemporary Blues by the city.
• The lower right-hand corner includes a portion of the Aurora Artwalk logo, which was the predecessor to Aurora’s First Fridays, a monthly celebration of the arts.
• The new Aurora downtown logo is slightly skewed to float across the river at sunset with the constellation “The Great Bear” in memory of Bear, Cheryl’s beloved canine companion coming to the studios since he was a puppy 13 years ago.
• The abundance of wildlife the river brings will be represented by their most handsome representatives:
o Monarch butterfly perched above the Downtown skyline
o Stainless steel blue darner dragonfly hovers above a section of prairie
o Cedar waxwing perched on the 12 bar blues. (I was fortunate to witness an entire flock one day from the studio window!)
o Silhouettes of sandhill cranes break the roofline of the building
o Softshell turtle making his way up the river
o Orange spotted sunfish and smallmouth bass flash their colors in the river
o Northern Leopard frog hovers near the edge of the river
o Cormorant’s head pops up out of thee river before diving down again
o Army of tadpoles clustering near the bottom of the river
o Duck tracks imprinted along the shores
o Pressed leaf specimens from the Linden trees in Rotary Park situated right outside our building float throughout the background of the mural.
o Silhouettes of native prairie plants float above an abstract prairie sky. They are, from left to right: prairie dropseed, white wild indigo, false boneset, missouri goldenrod, porcupine grass, Pale purple coneflower, switchgrass, big bluestem

The original scale painting, approx.. 7’ x 11’, is available for purchase for your downtown Aurora location! Please inquire at www.AuroraFastprint.com.