By FRED KRONER
Angie Rolson pictured something different than what she saw – a simple brick wall – on the side of the Corn Belt Fire Department building along Franklin Street in Mahomet.
Rockford-area resident Brett Whitacre has a vision for such walls, viewing them as blank canvases waiting for interesting and entertaining artwork.
Several months after Rolson shared with her husband Jim – a Corn Belt trustee – what she was thinking, Whitacre made a trip to the community and began formulating a plan.
Consulting with Corn Belt fire chief John Koller, who made the initial contact, Whitacre started the design process on paper and a computer.
In mid-April, his concept came to fruition on the east side of the fire station. A mural – approximately 55 feet by 16 feet – is one of Mahomet’s newest attractions.
No one is happier than Angie Rolson.
“It’s a building for the community, and I love his vision and the fact he did a historical perspective,” she said. “It turned out amazing.”
Rolson acknowledges that she can’t take credit for the mural idea.
“I told Jim, ‘The mural at YoYo’s is so cool. You guys should do something,’” Angie Rolson said.
The couple had seen similar artwork while visiting a daughter in Nashville.
“There are so many (in Nashville) and it’s a cool vibe,” Angie Rolson said. “It draws people to it.”
The 38-year-old Whitacre, who grew up in Belvidere, first set up shop as a studio artist in 2004.
He was selling paintings and paying the bills, but after more than a decade, he longed for a different challenge.
“I was selling a large amount of my personal work, but I was starting to plateau,” Whitacre said. “I wanted to diversify and take my work to a larger scale.”
He had no experience working on the outdoor platforms. He didn’t get into graffiti during his childhood.
“I had never stepped out of the studio to do that kind of thing,” Whitacre said.
In 2017, he had his first chance to work on the side of a building. A friend in Nashville asked him to liven up a structure he wanted noticed.
“I did 90-some colors,” Whitacre said.
He was so pleased by the outcome that he began sharing photos of his work.
“I used that to promote myself in the Chicago area,” Whitacre said. “Right away, I got hired.
“The ball started rolling on its own. People will see you (working) and approach you.”
The word-of-mouth advertising has kept Whitacre as busy as he’d like, though he does advertise on Thumbtack.
In 2020, Whitacre made his debut in Mahomet, doing the black-and-white mural on the north side of YoYo’s, on Lombard Street. That venture helped his work get known locally and was the reason Koller contacted YoYo’s owners Matt and Alice Pommier for information on who transformed the side of their building.
“In 2018, I started doing murals consistently,” Whitacre said. “People around Chicago know me as the person they can call to do the odd things.
“I don’t shy away from too many things.”
His outdoor artwork isn’t limited to the side of buildings.
“I’ve done VIP parking spaces,” Whitacre said.
While he hasn’t abandoned studio work, it now takes a back seat to the large-scale murals.
“I get commissioned all the time (for the murals),” Whitacre said. “I’m booked now all the way until August. I’m probably overbooked. I work all kinds of crazy hours.
“I still do a little studio work, but come February, I am out and about. I’ll tell people (who want a studio piece), ‘I can’t do it until November.’ I have very little free time.
“Since 2019, I haven’t said no to anything (as far as murals). I’ve done them inside a restaurant and household murals. In Chicago, that’s a thing: murals inside a house.”
Whitacre estimates he has completed nearly 60 murals. Many are in the Chicago area, though he was commissioned to do 12 in Norwalk, Conn.
Whitacre said Koller provided some ideas on what he’d like to see for the fire station artwork.
“He gave me input, and said he wanted the distressed look (for the background),” Whitacre said. “I visited in December and he showed me the badge (the original Corn Belt emblem) and that became the center part of the mural.”
After gaining the background information, Whitacre put his imagination to work.
“I came up with the idea and composed it,” he said.
His first inclination was to place the American flag on the left side, but he eventually vetoed that option.
“I like symmetry and wanted to balance it on the right side,” Whitacre said.
Following some design sessions in February, he submitted a first draft to Koller.
“He wanted a few changes,” Whitacre said.
Once the final approval was granted, Whitacre still needed time before he could start.
“For the paint to take, it needs to be consistently above 40 degrees,” he said.
Not all buildings are created equally, Whitacre said. The Corn Belt fire station, however, was a good one for him.
“If you’re the first person to paint on a wall, that’s a plus,” he said.
Once it comes time to start the work, Whitacre likes to wait until the evening hours.
“I have a digital projector and project the full image on the wall,” he said. “The projector is on a tripod on the side of the street.
“I chalked up the general image in about 2 hours.”
He started painting at the fire station early on the second day (April 13) – but needed to do more projection work that night – and wrapped up his work on the third day.
When Whitacre viewed the finished project, he was satisfied with the outcome.
“I’ve yet to finish one I didn’t think looked very good,” he said. “I’m usually blown away by the vibrancy of it.
“If I designed it and it’s something I created from scratch, I take pride in it.”
It’s important, Whitacre said, not to cut corners or to use anything less than a high-grade paint. He swears by Sherwin Williams paint, which comes with a 20-year guarantee.
When he sees mural work by others, the paint is what he notices first.
“I can tell if cheap paint has been used,” Whitacre said. “It will thin out right away.
“It needs to be rich in pigment. If it’s not, it will start to fade within 2 years.”
The exact cost of his murals is dependent on several factors, though Whitacre said the range is between $7 and $15 per square foot.”
Factors that enter into the price include whether the building wall needs to be repainted, the number of colors to be used and the intricacy of the design.
Examples of work done by Whitacre can be found by googling Brett Whitacre art.
Some mural requests Whitacre gets to sooner than others. One that is on hold is for the living room of the Rockford-area home he and his family purchased last September (though he produced murals already in each of his children’s bedrooms).
If Angie Rolson has her way, Whitacre may receive more calls to return to Mahomet.
“Every time I turn around, I think, ‘That would be a cool place for a mural,’” she said. “It shows community pride.
“When you look at a structure with a picture, it resonates. It’s something everyone can connect with.”
One more Mahomet possibility is already in the works.
“I’ve talked with people from the Park District, Whitacre said.
