Aurora artist Cheryl Holz created the mural that was unveiled last Saturday on the rear of the Aurora Fastprint building. (Photo by Jack McCarthy / Chronicle Media)

Cheryl Holz plenty of doubts when she first considered creating Aurora’s newest piece of public art.

The location — on a wall of the downtown Aurora Fastprint building — was not ideal for displaying a mural, with obstructions like fire escapes, dumpsters, metal pipes, vents and lights.

But after research, meetings and deliberation, the Aurora artist figured out how to pull it off and her new mural —“Aurora: The Cultural Context of the Fox” — had an official debut last Saturday during the Fox River Arts Ramble.

“It would be much easier to just do it on a flat wall,” she said. “This is a brick wall with lots of obstructions of different shapes and materials. It’s been a challenge to say the least… now I drive around Downtown Aurora and go “Look! It’s a flat, blank wall that would be so easy.”

The mural was commissioned by Aurora Fastprint owner Kim Granholm.

Holz, who has an impressive portfolio and has won numerous awards over the years, specializes in nature-inspired mixed media. Her pieces often feature earth tones, natural elements, animals and text, which all come together to create beautiful, contemporary approaches to nature.

She was able to really hone in on the natural elements that are common in life along the Fox River, as well as the city’s cultural ties to music and blues.

“It’s not a representational picture… it’s not a landscape. It’s a contemporary piece of art that is trying to kind of state where we are as a city and where we are locationally on the Fox,” Holz said.

This was her first time creating a piece made for a building exterior, although she has done other large-scale commissioned works

This was a learning experience for both her and Granholm and several factors came into consideration: how big it had to be, what kind of resolution would be needed and what would they need to make it look good outside on vinyl.

“It’s always a learning curve. I feel like whenever I take on a project like this you do a bit of learning about stuff you may or may not have envisioned in the beginning,” Holz said.

The original that she completed was 7 feet by 11 feet. It then had to be broken down into three panels in order for it to be photographed and then transferred to the vinyl, the material used to then transfer it to the wall.

There were numerous mediums used while creating this large-scale piece. Holz used a lot of fluid processes to render the river with mediums like acrylic and marabu spray. She also incorporated text and other features using silk-screen printing.

Through all the trials and tribulations, Holz is confident in her work and can’t wait for the city to see it.

“I think it’s a successful piece. How it’s going to translate on the back of a building? That still remains to be seen,” Holz said.

While the weather has created a challenge in attaching the vinyl mural to the building, they were scheduled to have it up by last Saturday as it adds an artistic touch to the downtown area.

“I hope people are open to a modern, contemporary approach. When I see a lot of murals, I see a lot of representation murals and I just thought we need to do something different,” Holz said.

To see more of Holz’ work and events, check out her website at cherylholz.com.

—Artist faced plenty of challenges in creating Aurora’s newest public art display–