WARD 6 MURALS

When asked to write an intro for this article, Paul Whitehead the Creative Services Director at WARD 6, jokingly said:

"We asked Blair to come up with murals depicting a typical day at WARD 6. 'Make it light & uplifting' I said before going on holiday. 2 weeks later I came back to this!"

"With a name like Ward 6 I couldn't' resist and took my cues from the beautifully framed straightjacket on the waiting room's wall.” says Blair. “Creative Director, Grant Foster also mentioned something about 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' being featured in their self promotion once, so I ran with the asylum theme."

Blair was asked to design murals for two areas, the entry to the main workspace and the boardroom, which also had to accommodate a TV. Blair resolved this by using comic book frames at the same proportion to the television set, making it a seamless integration into the mural. The upstairs area features some repeated imagery with an added main frame, which was Blair’s favourite part of the entire piece.

"I was stoked when WARD 6 gave the green light for the straight jacket fellow. I wanted it to say 'sometimes it’s nice to embrace a little madness'."

Blair painted all the work by hand, with help from Creative Services Director Paul Whitehead on the large-scale black area.

Feedback from the agency and guests to the boardroom has been overwhelmingly positive. "It's certainly made the boardroom a more interesting place to spend time during yet another finance meeting," says Paul.

*Pictured in frame six are Paul Whitehead (left) and illustrator Blair Sayer.