Murals as Tools for Urban Renewal in Owerri Capital Territory
Chapter One
Objective of the study
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain whether mural can beautify Owerri capital territory
- To ascertain whether mural have positive influence on businesses in Owerri capital territory
- To ascertain whether mural can act as a tool for urban renewal in Owerri capital territory
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
The History of Murals
The presence of murals has been documented for thousands of years, proving the ways and methods used to convey messages or stories of former lifestyles or habits. Until today, history and their delivery means have been used by researchers for research purposes. According to a book entitled Art in History, History in Art by David Freedberg and Jan de Vries, (1991), this phenomenon is reflective of past civilizations which have become much more prosperous. Hence, as we switch progressively from reading to seeing and activating the sensory organs towards world history, it has become more visual. The history of mural paintings was first using hunted animals which were shown by drawing, carving and shaping the surface of walls in the cave. In the early days, mural painters were mainly pre-historic cavemen who painted caves with various cave paintings. These arts have defined past human practices, such as Ritual Dance, which have been performed in a moderate manner. Among the famous examples are found in Chauvet Cave, Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, France during 30,000 BC, Lascaux Cave, Montignac, Dordogne, France 17,000 BC and the last one is in Altamira Cave, Santillana del Mar, Spain that in known as the ‘Pre-historic history of the Sistine Chapel’. Murals are one of the most famous arts during the classical period which was also used by the Egyptians for their tombs, Minos (castle), old Greek (temples, houses), Etruria (funeral arts) and Old Roman (public institutions, houses). Nevertheless, the typical mural paintings found in Pompei, the Romans’ mural painters, were much more than the interior decorators. Murals were also widely known art among Christians, particularly in the graveyards outside Rome. Due to the fall of Rome in the fifth century, the art of murals was also faded in Europe for several decades, keeping the only Constantinople in the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. The best murals from the Byzantine arts, however, appeared as the mosaic arts in churches and mosques such as Hagia Sophia (Constantinople), Ravenna Cathedral, St Mark’s Cathedral, Venice and others. In the 10th century, Kiev became popular with the murals of the middle-century from Russia, and among the popular wall painters at that period were Theophanous the Greek (c.1340-1410), Rublev (c.1360- 1430) and Dionysius (c.1440-1502). In the 11th and 12th centuries, Western Europe witnessed the re-emergence of murals through Romanesque paintings in France, which possessed a national style based on the Islamic ideas of Spain. In the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, the collapse of the Constantinople period and the emergence of the Renaissance in Florence, funded by the Medici, brought along beautiful murals paintings. In the East, India was a nation that is rich with the traditions of mural paintings in the 1150 century such as the Classical Indian and Post-Classical Indian paintings in the 14th century.
Modern Mural Arts
The walls of famous public buildings were certainly associated to painters, including the modern era, such as the Quinta del Sordo (Villa for the Deaf) in 1819-1823, located at the Manzanares River near Madrid. The painter, Goya, designed a series of murals known as “Black Drawing” and “Saturnus Delivering its Child” in the Prado Museum, Madrid. In 1806-1870, Daniel Maclise painted murals on the walls of Westminster Palace and John Singer Sargant painted murals for the Boston Public Library and the Widener Memorial Library at HarvardIn 1863-1923 Joaquion Sorolla Y Bastida, who was a Spain Impressionist painter, died nine years after completing his murals for The Hispanic Society of America in New York. However, some artists have made great progress with their murals, particularly the famous French artist Chavannes (1824-98), who established his fame through the decoration of several public buildings in Paris, including the Pantheon, the Sorbonne as well as the de Ville Hotel.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to murals as tools for urban renewal in Owerri territory
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information murals as tools for urban renewal in Owerri territory. 200 residents in Owerri, Imo state was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain murals as tools for urban renewal in Owerri capital territory
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of murals as tools for urban renewal in Owerri capital territory
Summary
This study was on murals as tools for urban renewal in Owerri capital territory. Three objectives were raised which included: To ascertain whether mural can beautify Owerri capital territory, to ascertain whether mural have positive influence on businesses in Owerri capital territory and to ascertain whether mural can act as a tool for urban renewal in Owerri capital territory. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 residents of Owerri. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made up civil servants, business men, youths and students were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
In conclusion, mural painting can continue to thrive with quality when the concepts and ideas applied are comparable to the thoughts of universal society in the current era of circulation. Thus, the outcome of ancient mural paintings has shown their logical proofs and ideas that any events that happen is a testament to the future generations. The study shows that murals which beautify the environment act as a tool for city renewal
Recommendation
Should be approval by government for more murals in the city for renewal, which make city develop
References
- Cass, C. (2002). Grand Illusions, Contemporary Interior Murals, Oxford. Phaidon Press.
- Freedberg, D., & Vries, J.V (1991). Art in history, History in Art. Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities.
- Golan, R. (2009). MuralNomad The Paradox of Wall Painting, Europe 1927-1957. Yale University Press New Haven & London.
- Seligman, P. (1987). Painting Murals, Images, Ideas and Techniques, North America in 1988. North Light Books 1507
- Dana Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio Allan, T., Deason, B., Lafontaine, J., Lafontaine, L., Bargmann, J. & Levy, S. (1997) A place of regeneration, Public Art Review, Spring/Summer, pp. 15–18.
- Artists Agency (no date) Arts, Health and Healing for Inner West End of Newcastle. Report to West End Health Resource Centre Trust, Newcastle Arts Council of Great Britain (1974) Art into Landscape (London, Arts Council of Great Britain).
- Arts Council of Great Britain (1977) Art into Landscape (London, Arts Council of Great Britain).
- Arts Council of Great Britain (1990) ‘Percent for Art’: a review (London, Arts Council of Great Britain).
- Baker, B. (1992a) Being part of the process, Artists Newsletter, September, p. 38.
- Baker, B. (1992b) Attributes and attitudes, in: Jones, S. (Ed.) (1992) Art in Public: what, why and how, pp. 44–62 (Sunderland, AN Publications).
- Baron, J.H. (1995) Art in hospitals, Journal of Royal College of Physicians of London, 29(2), pp. 131–144.
- Barrett-Lennard, J. (1994) Thinking through the public, Artists Newsletter, March, pp. 34–35.
