BY BILL MORGAN, STAFF WRITER

 

 

Dan Mondloch, a St. Cloud landscape artist, recently completed a mural along the walls above the pool area to complete the fresco. Jamie Cassidy and staff hired the talented painter to research, design and conjure up a scene depicting typical Minnesota topography.

 

Mondloch began meeting with BCC staff in August of 2017 while Cassidy and his employees worked to garner a grant to help support the costs. Planning for the artwork took months and various wildlife, plant culture and seasonal  characteristics were conceptualized. 

 

Mondloch tested different paint materials and due to the excessive moisture and humidity in the pool area, decided  a method using latex, epoxy and acrylic  was the best treatment for the mural. The painting, he assured, should last a very long time with little or no fading.

 

Mondloch’s creation features the Northern Lights, a sand hill crane, an owl, orioles, woodpeckers, cardinals,  butterflies and bees. Native flowers and grasses along with broadleaved trees, birches and shrubs were also integrated into the painting. The skies depicted show different times of the day with sunrises in one area, cloudy skies in another and a glorious sunset in another.

 

The mural project was designed to seamlessly meld a previous mural that was painted on parts of the wall by artist Parker McDonald in 2005. McDonald was tasked with painting summer and fall scenes, Mondloch winter and spring. Mondloch was able to fuse his vision and style to that of McDonald’s and make the masterpiece appear as one.

 

Mondloch is a third generation painter of landscapes in watercolor, following in the footsteps of his parents and great grandfather. In his hometown of St. Cloud, he graduated from SCSU with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting and drawing in 2007.

 

Mondloch operates a studio in his home, where he balances his professional life between studio art, commission work, murals, and teaching. He became a rostered teaching artist for the Central MN Arts Board in 2012. He teaches studio and plein air workshops, K-12  artist residencies, and beginner classes at the Paramount Visual Arts Center in St. Cloud. 

 

In 2013, Mondloch was awarded a McKnight Emerging Artists Award from the Central MN Arts Board (CMAB), and a Career Development grant from them in 2012 and 2014. He was also awarded a prestigious Artist’s Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board in March of 2013.

 

Mondloch’s mural work can also be observed at the River’s Edge Convention Center and at Recovery Plus in St. Cloud.

 

The sponsors and donors for the project include: Charles & Shirley Heineman in remembrance of Tamara Heineman Aszmann, Bev & Glenn Anderson, Becker Collision & Glass, Inc., Beck’s Pub, Becker Furniture World, Dr. Ron Ohmann, Becker Lions, Body’s By Ralph, Clear Lake Lions, Aqua Logic, Inc., Sherburne State Bank, Northland Refrigeration, Inc., Becker Education Association, Dingmann Family Funeral Home, Bogart, Pederson & Associates, Inc., CentraCare, Xcel Energy, Larry Nelson, Connections, Inc., Aquasize Class, Rick & Nancy Speer, Chuck & Sandy Curtis and Central Minnesota Arts Board Project Grant.