Gervais Street Extension by Blue Sky

Overview

Interior Mural
South Carolina State Museum
Vista Conference Room
Unveiled 1989

When the South Carolina State Museum officially opened in 1988, a consensus was reached that murals would be required to enliven the building's atmosphere. While someone was promptly hired to complete the exhibition murals, several rooms were still considered unfinished or plain. Coincidentally, the museum was faced with growing public demand for a mural by Blue Sky, although nothing had been announced. In order to meet this demand, the museum acquired funding from local benefactor Guy Lipscomb and commissioned Sky to paint a mural in the Vista conference room.

The conference room presented a challenge for Sky, because it was very dark -- even clausterphobic, due to its low ceiling. His solution was to 'knock down' the wall, opening the room up to the Columbia city skyline by extending the Gervais Street Bridge directly into the museum.

Because of the mural, the conference room now feels quite expansive, its mood remarkably subdued by the scale of the painting and the ever-present, foggy blue city twilight.