Endless Knot Mural, Ningbo, China
Wall length: 76.5 meters (250ft.)
Wall height: 2.8 meters (9ft.)
Total surface area: 214 sq. meters (2,303 sq. ft.)
Time to complete: one week
The city of Ningbo currently has about 4 million people living in its 6 urban districts, in 1990 that number was 250 thousand. That is a 16 fold increase in population in 20 years. Even in places of extreme population growth in the U.S. that is hard to grasp. Where there are now high rise apartment buildings were once villages and fields. People living here 15-20 years ago will tell you it is unrecognizable. In a city like Shanghai or Beijing with exposure to Western influence for decades, colorful murals and public artworks of the kind that Treibdesign makes are not uncommon, but in a place like Ningbo where not long ago the Maserati dealership was a farm and many of the inhabitants have come from smaller farming villages to earn a higher wage this type of artwork is something they may have never seen.
I’m not saying this because I imagine that is what people thought while we were painting. I mention it, because it is what people came by to tell us on a regular basis. Things like, “I have been watching from my apartment across the street and I have never seen anything like this” or “I don’t understand where your ideas come from” or “I have never seen something like this, what are you making?’ The curiosity was intense as if there was a new intriguing entertainment in town. People would check in everyday to see how it was coming, they would even offer their opinions on which parts they liked better or colors they preferred. It is public art at its best. A community of people seeing something new and reacting, asking questions, engaging with us and their own thoughts.
Scaled illustrator artwork of entire 76.5 meter wall.
The Ningbo Zhicheng International School commissioned a mural for the western exterior wall of the school that fronts their Skateboard Supercross Park and new golf driving range. We wanted the mural to reflect characteristics of the school while melding international cultural values into a colorful and engaging painting. Chinese traditional decorative knotting has been around since 1000 BC. In modern times it has become a way to represent good luck and prosperity. One sees expressions of the Pan Chang knot (the endless knot) during the New Year holiday. The never ending knot’s symbolism of a continuous thread was the inspiration for this design. We identified four aspects of the school to represent: Education (represented by a book), International Spirit (represented by a globe), Arts (represented by a brush drawing a heart) and Fitness (represented by a golfer and a skater).
Beginning with the components of the endless knot we deconstructed it into its component parts of curves and lines creating modular elements that change configuration as they travel along the wall. One thread always leads into the next image or pattern and the color red is represented in every part of the mural to maintain the auspicious color from the original Chinese knotting idea.
Education, represented by an open book
Endless knot variation pattern
International Spirit, represented by a globe flowing into another endless knot variation
The Arts, represented by a brush painting a heart and flowing into the traditional endless knot
Fitness, represented by a golfer and a skater which flow out of the endless knot
The execution of this mural was based on the idea of a modular pattern. We had 3 laser cut templates made of .02in poly carbonate that were able to roll up and take on our flight to China. Using these 3 templates we were able to chalk off all the patterns for the mural. After chalking we used masking tape to outline the design and make the painters jobs easier to get a crisp line. The overlapping tartan sections were the most difficult leading master painter Li Zedung to say, “this painting is like doing Tai Chi” as he made a motion with his hand of his head exploding. Based off the crude translation that google translate provided and his “mind exploding” gesture I took it to mean that he was not used to painting in this way where a lot of thought and planning were required. I knew it was difficult for him because in the beginning he continually put the wrong color in the wrong place, but after 2 days he really got it and became my favorite painter. The transition sections between the patterns required hand drawing which is harder but also more fun. It takes ingenuity and it is harder to keep the lines accurate to the drawing with no guides to follow. Ultimately there are some departures from the original design concept, but overall the translation to the wall is pretty accurate in color and layout.
We kept coming back to the most powerful part of this mural which was the community engagement. Below is a picture of a girl who came by and just hopped up on the scaffolding to help Ali. The curiosity and desire to help were overwhelming and continues to solidify our belief in doing art projects in China. I would walk behind people on the street young and old who would walk the entire length of the block with their necks craned towards the wall studying it intently, leaving me to wonder what they were thinking, “did they like it?” “did they hate it?” I finally realized that I had to focus on the fact that it had their attention. I will never know what people think when they see this painting, but if they are thinking something, then no better reaction could be hoped for.
Portrait by Coretta Jarteh