Dennis McGonagle
Dennis McGonagle has begun work on his latest work or public art, a 1200 square foot mural depicting the history of Whittier. The mural is being painted on two exterior walls of the Whittier Museum. This is the largest undertaking yet for the artist, whose career in mural painting began with an impressionistic scene on the back of his mother's home in Norwalk in 1976.
The mural focuses on the City of Whittier first 100 years, and included portraits of such legendary Whittier figures as Pio Pico, Jonathan and Rebecca Bailey, and Harriet Russell Strong. Also depicted are the Four Bricks, the first commercial building in Whittier, rendered in a pastoral landscape framed by the Whittier Hills.
McGonagle studied mural painting at Rio Hondo College with Jerry Romotsky. He earned a bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts at Whittier College and recently graduated from Cal State Long Beach with an MFA in painting. McGonagle is known for painting vivid urban landscapes and his latest mural exemplifies his style. One section depicts a bright red 1954 Chevrolet driving down Beverly Boulevard and appears to emerge from the wall. "I wanted something prominent and attention-grabbing for the drive-by-traffic", McGonagle explained.
How to access the upper reaches of the Museum's forty-foot high walls initially posed a problem for McGonagle, who ultimately chose to rent a platform lift called a Knuckleboom. "The Knuckleboom is perfect", McGonagle said, "It's like a magic carpet ready to transport me to any corner of the wall."
Assisting on the project is Tyler Kinnaman, who was a student of McGonagle's in a youth painting class at Whittier College in 1987. "I couldn't ask for a better assistant", McGonagle replied. "The way we were working, we will definitely be finished by our scheduled completion date of December 15th."
The Whittier Museum is located at 6755 Newlin Ave, on the corner of Newlin and Philadelphia in Uptown Whittier.
www.McGonagleStudio.com
dennismcgonagle@hotmail.com
