New Use For Drywall

Bernie Mitchell with one of his sculptures at a trade show.

DRYWALL is composed of gypsum plaster. In most cases, it becomes pressed between two sheets of thick paper to make a panel. It is used in construction to make interior walls and ceilings. If you have a house or apartment, that is the substance from which your walls are made. It's not really a substance used for intricate creative work.

Meet Bernie Mitchell, a drywall contractor from Ennismore, Ontario. He has spent the past 20 years refining drywall compounds to the point that he can make drywall reliefs, or sculptures on the walls in order to give homeowners something really special.



First, he tapes over the wall area he uses for the sculpture and applies several coats of primer. Then he takes drywall compound and thins it with water. Then he adds dry setting compound to the point that this new mixture can stick on the walls, but won't sag. Then he uses various knives and tools to make the 3D sculpture in the wall. He can add additional texture to the creation with dry brushes, but he's not averse to improvising, either. Something as simple as a plastic bag can add the detail needed for a creation.

The sculptures aren't painted, but are left the same color as the drywall. The end result gives the impression of the scene popping out of the drywall. Mr. Mitchell explains his end result, "The key is to work on a wall where the light comes in at an angle. When you're done, you have something that's always responding to the light moving across it. I never get tired watching it change throughout the day." So, each unique piece is more about the play of light across the details and it becomes a play of shadows and light. And a delight for anyone privileged to engage Bernie's services!

How angled lighting plays over the 3D surface.

Thanks to this article from Little Things: http://drywall.littlethings.com/dry-wall-art-sculpture/?utm_source=TS&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_campaign=misc; and this article from The Journal Of Light Construction: http://www.jlconline.com/drywall/mud-michelangelo_o.aspx.

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