Confluence by John Pugh

Confluence by John Pugh. . , Confluence was envisioned by internationally renowned trompe l'oeil artist John Pugh and created by him with assistance from his staff, local artists, and apprentices. Confluence celebrates the role of La Crosse as a sacred place. This sacred status arises from the interaction between the region's rivers, landscape, and all the people who have called it home., About 26,000 years ago, glaciers covered much of the Upper Midwest with ice more than a mile thick. These glaciers scraped the land nearly flat as they grew and spread south. However, the Driftless Area escaped glaciation, leaving the steep bluffs and coulees (valleys) intact. When the surrounding glaciers began melting about 16,000 years ago, they released torrents of raging water. This water, over a period of millennia, carved the unglaciated landscape and formed the Black, La Crosse, and Mississippi Rivers, which converge here in La Crosse., The first people of the region were nomadic hunters and gathers, pursuing Ice Age mastodons and mammoths, and later the deer, fish, and small game that still populate the countryside. More recently, mound builders and farmers, including the Ho-Chunk, filled the river valleys with villages and cornfields. Centuries later, waves of immigrants arrived from other continents., The painting technique in this mural is called trompe l'oeil, which means to deceived the eye. Did you notice, for example, how the glaciers seem to jut out of the sides of the mural or that the painted bricks match the real bricks on the front of the building?, To install the mural, the brick wall was first covered with a white plaster. The mural was painted on strips of non-woven canvas that were applied to the plastered wall, similar to the way that wallpaper is hung., The 25-by-60-foot mural was dedicated June 14, 2014. The mural was funded by an Our Town grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as State, County, City, corporate, foundation, and private support., This mural on the west wall of the Pump House Regional Arts Center in the heart of the La Crosse Arts District celebrates the spirit of this place and the importance of the arts, artists, and other creative people in forming and expressing our community's identity. It also celebrates the convergence of many diverse peoples that have given La Crosse its unique culture.