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1737 Solano Apt. 210 Berkeley California 415-525-1529 Oct. 23-66

Dear Ref:

Thanks for your chatty letter. This is intended as an insult, which I hope you will take to heart. Well anyway could I possibly retain you or one of your numerous associates as technical advisor on a mural project?

This is the problem: I have been voted by the citizens committee of Fresno (see October Readers Digest) to do a large painted wall in their new civic theater. The building has just been finished and got rave notices from the San Fransisco critic who attended the opening. Acoustics superb, building like a fine piece of sculpture, etc. The building is indeed quite interesting in a very functional way. The wall I have is 16' high by 72' long. It is the first thing you see as you go thru the main entrance (12 foot solid bronze doors designed and cast by a Fresno sculptor, very young guy but an excellent designer).

This is the problem. The building is in constant use now, and the wall (actually the outside of the back wall of the auditorium) hangs in mid-air over the cocktail lounge. They don't want scaffold there for months, so the plan is to have me do it on masonite panels or canvas, to be installed when finished. The wall itself is lath and plaster over 2x4's 16"oc. (Or wire and plaster)

In doing research in libraries here (admittedly not exhaustive research, since I am under terrific pressure to get both this drawing finished and four concrete sculptures done for another commission) I could find nothing about installation of such painted wall-surfaces. It seems to me that with masonite panels there might be considerable chance of an unpleasant checkerboard effect. Yet no local company (Stuart-Sauter Canvas never heard of such a thing) ever installed a painted canvas mural and has no idea how to do it.

What I would like is:

1. a typed "technical report" stating recommended material and method of installation. (If masonite how to make "floating" panels that won't bulge with expansion in heat)

2. An engineering drawing of wall showing details of