The Public Art of Skip Dyrda
Pages From Our LIbrarys Past
Created for the front façade of the new Punta Gorda Library, this mural tells the story of the community’s library system through a blend of history and imagination. Behind the figures, tall shelves overflow with books, while three oversized volumes in the foreground draw viewers into the scene. At the center sits a giant open scrapbook filled with hand‑painted newspaper clippings from Punta Gorda’s library past. Six children and a librarian appear throughout the mural—reading, climbing, and exploring—bringing movement and life to the design. More than 270 books were painted by hand, many with their real titles and jacket artwork. The entire mural was executed in a fade‑resistant mineral paint to ensure it remains vibrant for years to come.
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This little girl looks like she’s attempted to point out something in the huge scrapbook. Everything is hand painted.
In addition to that left-handed Smurf artist, who is holding my everpresent red string, you see a stack of books. Can you decipher the quote and who said it?
This little boy wants to be up higher with his friends and to show them the page he just colored.
The librarian. Everything you see in the mural, like that flyer that she’s holding and the paper at her feet, mean something. even that butterfly you see fluttering near the nottom right corner of the scrapbook.
Your’s truly hard at work. I worked right through the summer, in the meddile of the pandemic, so I couldn’t even go into the library to use the facilities. And I was onced chased away by swarms of lovebugs. Thanks to Eric Hilton for the photos he took of me on loaction.
The standard ‘before’ photo. A big cream colored and blank canvas. No apprehension this time though. The minute I was asked about painting a mural on a library, I knew exactly what I wanted to paint.