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Local artist finishes murals at Ida Public Library
COURTESY PHOTO Belvidere Republican
Artist and Belvidere native Brett Whitacre has created a mural, shown here, and artwork to brighten up the Children’s Department at the Ida Public Library.
Ida Public Library is proud to announce that our new mural and artwork for the children’s department are complete. The new mural is an enchanted mountain scene placed above the children’s computers. It is very colorful and takes the place of the drab and strange framed mural previously installed there. Positioned across from the glass entry wall, patrons of all ages are welcomed into the dynamic library area of the children’s department.
In addition to the mural, Brett painted birch trees on the posts near the children’s self-checkout and the non-fiction new item display. The tree trunks appear to be nearly 3 dimensional! Branches with birch leaves stretch from the tree trunks across the soffit, creating an arch of beauty. Among the branches is a gorgeous red cardinal, with a more cleverly hidden blue jay. See if you can spot it!
The artist responsible for this abundance of color is Brett Whitacre, well known in the Stateline area for his murals and small artwork. Brett was born and raised in Belvidere and attended Belvidere schools. He seemed have an affinity for art almost from the time he was born, spending hours coloring with just blank pages.
In kindergarten, Brett’s teachers and parents discovered that he was colorblind. Brett says it did not really bother him that much because he kept on drawing, coloring and painting using the colors he could see. He encourages anyone with the colorblind conditions to keep creating art, regardless if the colors you see match the colors others see. Pursue your passion and dreams to create your own exciting world of color!
We hope you stop by the library to see the new artwork! Brett will be back in warmer weather to create another masterpiece at the outside entrance downstairs. Although we gave Brett our ideas for this round of artwork, we told him to think of the outside wall as a blank page. We cannot wait to see what he creates! Check out Brett’s story, his murals, and artwork on his artist page at www.facebook.com/brettwhitacreart.
