Pilot House Mural
Left adjacent wall section of the Pilot House Mural at UMSL. || Photo by Corey Warner.
Luke Schulte and I completed the Pilot House Mural in January 2002. At the time, we were students of the department of Art and Design at the University of Missouri St. Louis (UMSL). Our primary supporters were professor Phillip Robinson, chancellor emerita Blanche M. Touhill, and the late Gloria Schulz (former Director of Administrative Services at UMSL).
Centeral section of the Pilot House Mural at UMSL. || Photo by Corey Warner.
In September 2001, at a luncheon to approve the forming of Gallery Visio (a student-run gallery, now the Triton Pantry), administrators presented the idea of creating the Pilot House and a 130’ wide mural. Luke and I accepted the responsibility to design the concept of the room as well as a mural. From the onset, we intended to honor the student organizations at UMSL and to complement the Fine Arts spaces on the main campus, such as the professional Gallery 210 (currently housed in the Fine Arts Building) and the aforementioned Gallery Visio.
Right-center section of the Pilot House Mural at UMSL. || Photo by Corey Warner.
Planning the Pilot House Mural amounted to 149 hours while labor took about 180 hours, totaling 329 hours for us to complete the work. October 2001 consisted of informing campus and rallying support. We put out a formal call for submissions from all student organizations and various departments at UMSL. In November, we sidestepped painting on sticky Styrofoam, and instead were grateful for wood panels as our substrate. December was when the actual painting started.
By December 10th the floor logo for the Pilot House was completed and sealed. The next day we incorporated all student submissions as preliminary drawings directly on the unprimed panels with permanent marker and then primed the panels. Early on we had about eight hours of volunteer assistance painting the first layer of paint on a section of the central portion of the mural. With incredible support from UMSL’s security personnel and Gloria Schulz, Luke and I spent nine to sixteen-hour days painting through December (with a few days off for Christmas). The Pilot House Mural was completed on January 2, 2002 at 7:00 PM. The Pilot House commemoration ceremony was held, with live music and a presentation of artist plaques to record the event, on the first floor of the Millennium Student Center at UMSL on February 20th, 2002 .
In June 2023, UMSL began work to renovate the Pilot House as the new esports Triton Arena.[1] In November 2023, I took a group of students on a campus visit to UMSL. At the end of this campus visit, the inaugural director of the esports program offered the mural back to me. I was informed that it was lucky I was on campus because they were a month away from wrapping the walls (the Mural) in vinyl. One, I did not have storage for over 1,300’ of mural, and two, I needed to contact Luke. The director and I exchanged contact information.
Close up photo of the Mural taken in December 2023. || Photo by Abril Warner
So, twenty-three years, give or take a week, after we started work on the Pilot House, Luke and I (and our spouses) found ourselves back in this space. This time we needed to digitally document the Mural and decide how to appropriately preserve or dismantle the Mural. As it turns out Luke and I married photographers.
Shannon Schulte and Corey Warner discussing how to photograph the Mural. || Photo by Abril Warner.
By December 22, 2023, Luke and I were informed that there was “no rush”. We wrote an official proposal to suggest what the second life of the Mural should be and how this should be carried out. We invited several UMSL agents to our meetings, and Jason Stahr, the current director of Touhill Performing Arts Center accepted our call. Luke took an in-person meeting with a representative for Chancellor Emerita Touhill, and it was decided that the Pilot House Mural was indeed an important part of her legacy at UMSL.
Jason Stahr’s team selected which panels would become part of the Touhill Performing Arts Center, and we scheduled a date to move the Mural. On July 29th, 2024, Luke, his father (Paul), my husband and I assisted and oversaw the crew in the removal of the Mural. Approximately, seventeen panels were taken to the Arts Center to be hung in the dressing rooms. It was Jason Stahr’s hope that UMSL Art students would paint artwork to bring the visual and performing arts together. And so, when the opportunity to move select parts of the Pilot House Mural to the Touhill Performing Arts Center arose, it met Jason’s expectations and ours.
Luke (foreground) and Touhill Performing Arts Center crew removing panels. || Photo by Abril Warner.
As it turned out, Bovey Zhang, the director of esports at UMSL, asked to keep a section of the Mural in the original space. We assented, since keeping the Mural at UMSL is our preference. The Triton Arena (the former Pilot House) will house the three panels that once made up the right adjacent section of the Pilot House Mural.
Right adjacent section of the Pilot House Mural at UMSL. || Photo by Corey Warner.
During Touhill’s tenure at UMSL the Fine Arts were pragmatically supported and the creation of the Pilot House Mural was possible. The Touhill Performing Arts Center opened in September 2003 (a year after the opening of the Pilot House). The Center quickly became the best option, it is an excellent space for the Mural to have its second life and to continue the legacy of Chancellor Emerita Blanche M. Touhill.
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