Artist creating mural of Cedar Rapids residents

CEDAR RAPIDS - Tom Torluemke's stick of graphite glided across a roll of tracing paper. He stepped back, cocked his head, then returned to the page.

Passers-by entered the firehouse-turned-art-studio on Third Street SE in downtown Cedar Rapids, surveyed the porcelain-tile-covered walls and painting supplies, then focused their eyes on Torluemke.

On a cloudy morning this past weekend, Torluemke was drawing Cedar Rapids residents' portraits. Some were life-size, others were smaller. But beyond the drawings, Torluemke was crafting a story.

Torleumke's project is called a portrait-drawing marathon: Between Saturday and today, the Indiana-based public artist has drawn residents in various poses for half-hour increments from morning until night.

Torluemke chatted with his subjects while he drew them, attempting to capture their personalities and viewpoints. He completed dozens of portraits and, this week, will trace his drawings onto a canvas.

Torluemke will use acrylic paint to turn the work into an 8-by-24-foot mural, called “You Know ... We're All in This Together,” showing the diversity of Cedar Rapids. The final mural, which will include scenes and landmarks from around the city, will be on display beginning Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. at CSPS Hall, 1103 Third St. SE.

“It isn't as much that we're different in regards to our beliefs, just people's behavior,” Torluemke said of the inspiration for the painting. “It's nice to put all different kinds of people, getting together, doing common things, all in support of an uplifting unity.”

The mural's subjects are a combination of volunteers and recruits. Linn County Supervisor Lu Barron volunteered for the project and said she had fun while Torluemke drew her portrait.

“Arts are very important to the total community,” Barron said. “I've never been involved in anything like this. I can't wait to see the results.”

Torluemke came to Cedar Rapids for a weeklong residency with Legion Arts, the non-profit organization that owns and operates CSPS Hall and its firehouse studio next door.

Mel Andringa, the co-founder and artistic director of Legion Arts, said the group has played host to four to six resident artists and performers each of the last three or four years,  but Torluemke's visit is the first in which an artist will actually live in the firehouse.

Legion Arts has presented art, music, theater and film at CSPS Hall and elsewhere for more than 20 years. The hall itself underwent a $7 million restoration and expansion following the 2008 flood.

Torluemke grew up in Chicago with an alcoholic father and later used drugs and alcohol himself, according to a news release from Legion Arts. He has since counseled many recovering alcoholics and addicts.

Torluemke is known for his blunt approach to social issues, often  creating political cartoons. His work has appeared in more than 100 exhibitions and, in 2007, he received the Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship.

Andringa said residencies like Torluemke's are important because people of Cedar Rapids can come and see artists at work. Because making a piece of art is the most interesting part of the process for the artist, Andringa said he wants audiences to have the chance to see that process and converse with the artist.

“Paul Engle said his drugstore was his window on the world. We need a window on the world,” Andringa said. “The longer we have artists, the longer they have involvement with Cedar Rapids, the more we learn.”