What's newGrape murals are truly unique works of art
You can call Jean Rauser an expert on grape murals. The member of the Board of Directors for the Lodi Grape Festival and Harvest Fair has been making murals for 30 years.
Cristina Hamilton of Lodi cuts grapes from their vine as she and other
members of the Lodi Garden Club work to create grape murals in this
2003 file photo. The murals remain one of the Grape Festival and Harvest
Fair’s signature events. (Jennifer
M. Howell/News-Sentinel)
She knows all about making murals, and she knows the potential problems there could be this year as a result of the grape harvest being early.
The mural-making process is lengthy, but the nonprofit groups that make the murals often have 20 or more people working on them. The amount of hours it takes varies, but Rauser said a chairperson of a mural committee might spend 50 hours working on the mural.
The murals start with a drawing, which mural-makers blow up to the size they plan to make: Large, 80 feet by 12 feet; medium, 6 feet by 8 feet; or small, 4 feet by 6 feet. They cut the picture into pieces, like a jigsaw puzzle, and put the pieces on builder board. They surround the pieces with “dams and borders.” Each section is surrounded with cardboard covered in aluminum foil. All this is done a week or so before the festival.
Then three days before the festival, mural-makers cut grapes and glue them in place. They may use grapes in any form including raisins, yogurt- or chocolate-covered raisins and burnt berries (dried up grapes). Whole grapes must be used, with the stem left on so that the grapes don’t shrivel.
Linda McCay of Lodi delicately places Muscat grapes stems down in rubber
cement for a grape mural for Mokelumne River School in this 2003 file
photo.
(Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)
The grapes mostly are donated by the farmers, and mural-makers ask them to leave some grapes on the vine as long as possible when there is an early grape harvest. If the grapes have to be picked, the mural-makers must put them in cold storage. The problem is that the grapes get damp and will shrivel faster when exposed to the heat, Rauser said. Because the grapes are damp, they are harder to work with, she added.
“We’re all keeping our fingers crossed that they can leave the grapes we want to use,” she said. “But if the grapes have to go in cold storage, we’re all in the same boat.”
Several things may be done with the grapes to give them a different color and texture. Vegetable oil makes the grapes shiny and bright. Spray-on deodorant adds powder that resembles the original field dust. Nutmeg and chili powder can be used to give a reddish cast. Rauser said they rarely paint the grapes, unless they can’t make a color that they want, such as the silver chrome of a classic car. Mural-makers often use glitter, and they sometimes use Christmas lights.
Once the murals are complete, they are judged by the Danish system, which means the mural-makers don’t compete against each other; rather, they compete against the rule book.
