Reno Artist Finishes Mural of Emerald Bay

Reno-based artist, Connor Fogal, recently completed a mural of Emerald Bay that is displayed in the John and Geraldine Lilley Museum of Art at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR).

The 35 foot by 11 foot mural was months in the making, and it was produced in an unconventional and creative way. Fogal was born with Cerebral Palsy, and he used an adaptive headset attached to a paintbrush and a chair riser to paint the highest points of the mural.

It was publicly unveiled on May 31 where 200 people showed up at the museum to get a look at the finished project.

“This mural means so much to me because it shows that it doesn’t matter if you are in a wheelchair or you paint using your head, you can still make a beautiful piece of art,” said Fogal in an interview with Nevada Today .

The idea for this mural was born through a relationship between Fogal and another UNR faculty member and documentarian, Kari Barber.

Barber was so inspired by Fogal’s resolute will power, lifestyle, and artistic talent that she wanted to make a documentary about him. Despite being in a wheelchair his whole life, Fogal is an avid skier, outdoorsman, and weightlifter, and he is dedicated to his community by lobbying for a wheelchair repair act, among many other things.

After the two agreed on a documentary, Fogal had the idea to paint a mural during the making of the film. He was given the green light to set up shop in the Church Fine Arts Building on the UNR campus.

As soon as Fogal saw the wall he knew exactly what he wanted to paint.

“When I saw the wall, I thought, ‘I’ve got the perfect picture for that,’” he said. “The picture is a panorama so it wouldn’t get distorted or funky looking.”

Fogal recalls that his artistic inception began in elementary school where his mother taped a paintbrush to a headset and he started experimenting his skills. In sixth grade his teacher challenged him to become a adept color mixer.

He studied the masters of painting like Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, and Edward Hooper. His first painting was a recreation of Monet’s “Impression, Sunrise.”

Since then, he has completed a two-year program at UNR, studied digital photography, digital media, and paid his way through school by selling his paintings.

Fogal is currently an assistive technology ambassador and digital media producer/editor in the College of Education and Human Development’s Nevada Center for Excellence in Disabilities (NCED).

He is also the founder of My Life on Wheels , an organization dedicated to gaining funding for people with disabilities to ski, spreading awareness for all types of disabilities, and simply put, his voice from his wheelchair.