Interior Murals An Important Part Of The Workplace Environment

After a professional mural painting career of thirty-three plus years, we have heard much positive feed-back from many satisfied customers in a variety of interior settings. Unfortunately we did not take the time to document our customers reactions to our art work. Looking back over the years, we now realize that had we followed up each mural project with a control study, asking the clients employees specific questions regarding the value of art in the workplace, this would have been a valuable resource for us. Some studies are available and this year, we intend to conduct such a follow up study after each mural we produce. One example is found at the following internet address; http://www.nhbca.com/news_031208_workart.php (ART IN THE WORKPLACE, Survey Reveals Workplace Art Collections Are Valuable for Business).

The above mentioned study revealed that art helps businesses address some key challenges, for example;

Reducing stress (78% agree, 8% disagree and 14% neither agree nor disagree).
Increasing creativity and productivity (64% agree, 11% disagree, and 25% neither agree nor disagree).
Enhancing morale (67% agree, 13% disagree, and 20% neither agree nor disagree).
Broadening employee appreciation of diversity and encouraging discussions, and expression of opinions (77% agree, 11% disagree, and 12% neither agree nor disagree).

“The workplace art collection is often an underutilized, sometimes overlooked, business asset,” said Judith A. Jedlicka, President, BCA. “The results of this survey point to the fact that art in the work environment fosters creativity, boosts employee morale and sparks dialogues – all of which are essential to a company’s success.”

This survey also revealed that art in the workplace:

Enhances the work environment (94% agree, 3% disagree, and 3% neither agree nor disagree).
Evidences the company’s interest in improving the quality of life in and out of the workplace (84% agree, 6% disagree, and 10% neither agree nor disagree).
Helps to build customer (65% yes and 34% no) and community relations (73% yes and 27% no).
Leads to networking opportunities (52% yes and 47% no).

Another interesting article relating to this subject can be found at the following web address; http://www.allbusiness.com/services/amusement-recreation-services/4568089-1.html

This year, we have enough work lined up with our Novatek customer to keep us busy for twelve plus months. Thus, conducting a control study would be very valuable and it would be a shame to pass this opportunity up. Although we did not take the time to gather information in the past, I recently discovered a very interesting coincidence. First, I must note that we have been producing murals for Novatek since the year 2001. Upon looking at Novatek's website, I discovered a chart which illustrates the number of patents awarded Novatek for inventions, since it's founding in the 1950's and up through 2010. As you analyze this chart, you will observe a slow but steady increase in patents awarded Novatek, from the fifties decade to the year 2000. And interestingly, in the most recent decade, you will notice a drastic increase in this number. In other words, the largest percentage of patents awarded for inventions to the companies credit, were in the past ten years, as compared to previous decades. Pretty impressive. To date, Novatek has a company total of over five hundred patents since their founding and to their credit. It has been said that the company CEO makes more trips to the patent office than the average person goes grocery shopping. In observing the companies productivity first hand, I can tell you that it is hardly an exaggeration. In making this observation, an individual might ask himself, "What is it then, that has caused such an increase in productivity and company success?"

In the past decade and through my own personal observation, Novatek has done several things to improve the work environment for there employees. First I would like to add that I have never heard a Novatek employee say anything negative about the company. I get the impression that morale and productivity has always been high, even in previous decades. Even though the work environment is already top notch, Novatek continues to look for ways to improve their environment. Why? Because all these "extras" improves productivity. Do the math. An increase in productivity increases profits.

After we painted our first mural for Novatek, beginning August 2001 and added framed paintings in their conference rooms and offices, The employees observed that is seemed to add a whole new energizing dimension to the workplace. One of Novatek's customers from Texas once told me, "When I come to Novatek for business, the first thing I usually do is go to the wall where a mural is painted and soak in a little inspiration. It helps me relax and prepare myself for the business at hand."

Since 2001, the company also began to add dozens of sky lights to their rooftops, flooding the interiors with natural light. Their shops are always as clean as a hospital, even their machine shops. Their HVAC system is state-of-the-art, all adding to the employees comfort. Novatek is kind of like a state-of-the-art business incubator. They are continuously developing new technologies from the ground up and creating working prototypes. Everything is provided for them in house for their convenience, from mechanical tools and equipment, marketing research tools, intellectual properties and legal professionals, etc. All these "extra" conveniences, including our murals, seem to have weaved a decade of more successful productivity and profits. Coincidence? We like to think that Ricks Fine Art Murals has now become an important part of the companies productive fabric.

When you think about it, why do corporate officials wear business attire, drive expensive-looking cars, polish their shoes, press their shirts and pants and groom themselves nicely when meeting important customers or making presentations? Is it not because they have learned the right business attire creates a very professional first impression? It has also been shown to improve sales, because it creates an image of success. If spending the money to "dress up" the corporate building with the above described improvements will increase profits, then does it not make sense to do it? In this respect, high quality murals and artwork is the business attire and grooming standard of the corporate professional.

Our mural product is unique. It is more like a gargantuan easel painting than the typical large-scale postery, commercial-looking wall graphic. During my professional career as an artist, seventeen of those years were in the sign industry, supplementing my fine art career for a while. Our real passion is museum quality mural art with heart-felt expression. Anything less than that would seem to us like just another commercial sign job and we don't want to do another sign. We strive to reach beyond that. When we finish a mural project, it is only after we have done everything we can to give the customer our very best. Judging by the data in this article, our "very best" appears to contribute to a companies success.

Days Now, Not Weeks

MARCH 29th, 2011. We are now down to days to the finish and not weeks. For a while, I was beginning to feel like I would never see the end of this project. I look back after today, I can't almost believe how far we've come. We have spent about two and a half months on this mural. Not too bad considering it's size. SOmetimes larger projects can take just as long, if not longer. If the whole wall was flat and without obstacles, I would bet we could have had it finished two weeks ago.

I asked my brother Marty to stop by and give me a critique. He said it was my best mural yet. That was nice of him. Marty and I will often bounce a painting critique off one another's work. When we were kids, we used to criticize each other about more childish things. Now the crit's are more productive instead of destructive.

We got quite a lot accomplished today. It felt good. Now I can for sure see the end of the project. I'm glad, because I'm getting tired of working on it. It's not like in my studio where I can stop working on one painting for a while if I get bored and pick up a different one. Usually, with my gallery work, I would have four or five paintings going at a time. Cant do that with murals. The same one stares you in the face every day until it is finished. I got on the bus at 6:50 a.m., instead of my usual 7:50 ride to work. It was a good productive day. Lucky the bus route has a stop just a few hundred feet from the building where this mural is inside. Gas prices are getting crazy!