FORT WALTON BEACH —The Arts and Design Society building on First Street will get a makeover.
ADSO members plan to spruce it up with a colorful mural.
“I think it’s going add a lot of wow factor, and it’s going to advertise that there is an art center there between the churches,” ADSO President Helen Harris said. “I think murals really add something to a city, or any area. It kind of draws people in.”
The building tucked between First Baptist Church of Fort Walton Beach and Catholic Charities of Northwest Florida was built in 1949 and is owned by the city. It once housed the police, fire and water departments.
ADSO has occupied it since 1973.
City officials have signed off on the mural, said Gail Meyer, manager of the Indian Temple Mound Museum.
Meyer said ADSO’s members “are very talented” and she has no doubt their work will benefit the area.
“Re-uses for old buildings is wonderful for any community,” she said.
Harris and other ADSO members began discussing the project in October and recently completed the mural’s design.
“In the center we’re going to have a piece of pottery with two hands as if they’re working on the pottery,” Harris said. “Then we have paint brushes coming off with paint swirling toward the top.”
The scene also will show brick arches and colorful bubbles floating out of the wall for a three-dimensional effect, she added.
“It’s going to be very vivid colors,” Harris said. “We’re going to have reds and greens and yellows.”
Artist and ADSO member Elia Saxer will bring the scene to life.
“She’ll actually draw it on the wall and then all of the members will be invited down to paint it,” Harris said. “It’ll almost be like a paint-by-number.”
Harris said the first step will be to clean the wall with a vinegar solution and fill in the holes.
“We’re definitely hoping to get everything set up and primed by at least the next week to two weeks. Then Elia will do the rendering,” she said.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari C. Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn.