Ten Questions with Artist Tina Murano

by Chris Schull, The Wichita Eagle   June 20, 2006

THE TEACHER AT NORTHEAST MAGNET HIGH SCHOOL TALKS ABOUT A PURPLE BIKE, A WHITE DOVE AND LIVING HER DREAM

1.   Why do children and art go so well together?

Kids are not inhibited by social art-norms and the history of art. Their art is all about the materials and emotions.

2.  Why should people be subjected to "public art"?

What if they don't like it? Art in the public realm can be a symbol of a community's appreciation for levels of higher thinking. When considering past cultures, art and architecture are studied in order to learn a culture's sense of the world.

3.  What are your upcoming large-scale art projects?

I am working as the art consultant with Wilson Darnell Mann Architects on the design for the proposed Wichita Animal Shelter/Kansas Humane Society Campus. And I was invited to create a work of art related to a particular breast cancer survivor, which will be included in the Komen Breast Cancer Foundation "Art for the Cure" exhibit in September at City Arts.

4.  What is the most esoteric subject you've made a mosaic of?

Last summer I attended the Mosaic Art School in Ravenna, Italy. The city is known as the mosaic capital of the world and has numerous Byzantine mosaics that include the images of doves. As a connection to my experience in Ravenna, I created a mosaic of a white dove (which represents me) walking along the path of life with the quarter-moon in an Italian sky full of sparking stars.

5.  What is your favorite public art in Wichita?

Celebration Plaza in Central Riverside Park. That beautiful space was created for people of all ages to enjoy both day and night.

6.  When did you know you were an artist?

 I knew I was an artist in preschool as I finger painted with the blue paint and created Christmas garland with the red and green strips of construction paper and Elmer's Paste.

7.  What is your fondest memory?

Working on the farm with my Grandma Louise Vice in Bucklin, Kan. At the end of the day she would heat water in the big kettles on the stove, fill the bathtub to just the right temperature and wash my feet with a soapy wash cloth.

8.  What was your first job?

Collecting aluminum cans and saving money to buy my first bike. It was purple, had a banana seat, tall handle bars and a plastic flower basket on the front.

9.  What is your greatest extravagance?

Our house (in Halstead) with art studios for both my husband (David Murano) and me.

10.   What is your dream job?

 To be an artist and art teacher. Looks like I am living my dream.

Tina Murano, 38, lives in Halstead with her husband, David Murano, and children Emma, 13, and Nate, 11. Her family also includes a black cat named Jynx, a golden retriever puppy named Henry, and a Lhasa Apso puppy named Bella.