Bookstore mural honors IU legends

The outside wall of T.I.S. College Bookstore is now a 30-foot-high and 100-foot-wide canvas.

T.I.S. collaborated with Nashville, Ind., residents Kara Barnard and Jody Bonifield to create a colorful mural that honors the legends and traditions of IU.

The project, begun in July 2012 and finished for students returning for fall semester that year, caused inquiries from customers and passerby.

“It’s funny to watch traffic driving down Third Street,” said Paul Williams, supply manager and buyer at T.I.S. “They’ll be driving by and do a double-take.”

This isn’t the first mural painted on the side of the bookstore. The previous one, completed in 1995, lasted about 15 years.

Weather and a water leak caused the mural to deteriorate. A painter was hired to scrape off the remains and paint the wall a light gray to match the rest of the building, and since then the water leak has been fixed.

Williams was a big fan of the first mural. In February, he helped plan the mural project, suggesting Barnard, his banjo instructor, as a possible painter.

Barnard, owner of Weed Patch Music Company in Nashville, teaches music lessons to more than 50 students.

Williams approached her about the project, and Barnard agreed to do it with Bonifield, owner of Muddy Boots Café and the Pine Room Tavern in Nashville.

The bookstore owners and artists agreed on the theme of IU legends. The mural, on the wall facing the parking lot, is split into four separate sections.

The first section, from left to right, represents components of music and art. The second section focuses on sports, featuring the basketball banners, fans and notable IU athletic coaches.

Education is represented in the third section, showing textbooks, school supplies and the face of Alfred Kinsey, founder of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction. The last section shows the iconic Sample Gates at the entrance of IU.

Herman B Wells is featured walking away from the gates as a biker passes behind him in the background.

“We think we put together a real nice depiction of IU,” Williams said. “We put some people on there that deserve the recognition.”

To create the mural, the artists made sketches, projected them onto construction-grade paper and cut out giant stencils. The artists then placed the stencils on the wall and used them to paint the four sections.

Accustomed to condensing a large area into a small-scale map, Barnard blew up objects to fit them on the large wall.

On most days, Barnard and Bonifield began painting at 3 p.m. and worked until 9 p.m.
“A lot of kids stop by and chat with us while we work,” Barnard said during the painting process. “And many have never heard of these people.”

Kevin Theile, member of the T.I.S. management team, said that on a simple level, the bookstore and the artists wanted to create art for residents, students and visitors alike to enjoy.

“On a deeper level,” Theile said, “we wanted to capture the essence of IU and Bloomington.”