BAY CITY, MI – In less than 24 hours, a mural of Madonna was approved and completed on the City Market wall along Adams Street.
The muralist, Jules Muck, also known as Muck Rock, was in Flint painting a mural for the Flint Public Art Project when she said she learned that Madonna’s hometown was Bay City.
Muck completed the wall-sized Madonna mural within three hours. She said it was her sixth or seventh mural she completed in a matter of days in Michigan.
“I paint Madonna a lot. I like to paint her, she’s a great character, and it was fun to do the 80′s Madonna,” Muck said. “I just thought it would be good for her to be younger since she was a youngster there.”
The plan for the mural was birthed after the director of the Flint Public Art Project, Joe Schipani, reached out to Saginaw City Councilwoman Jamie Forbes to share that Muck was in Saginaw painting another mural at White’s Bar after completing her work in Flint.
Schipani relayed that Muck wanted to paint Madonna in Bay City, so Forbes reached out to a few people and within an hour the location was picked and approved.
“To me, it’s just an illustration of how many folks in this region are connected and how those relationships can result in some really neat things,” Forbes said.
Madonna was born Madonna Louise Ciccone on Aug. 16, 1958 at the former Mercy Hospital, 100 15th St., where the Bradley House now stands, per MLive-Bay City Times records. Her grandparents’ home on the city’s West Side was near a now-closed petroleum plant.
City Market General Manager Margie Brown said it was amazing to watch how fast Muck worked and is excited it’s a part of the market.
“From an artistic standpoint, I think it’s wonderful to have something from this woman’s caliber on our building,” Brown said. “It’s definitely something that people will come to see if they hear about it and it could also help bring people in the door that have maybe never set foot in here before.”
Muck was born overseas but is now based out of California and is currently on a tour throughout the country.
Muck said she was thrilled to paint in Bay City where it’s not over saturated with murals as people really appreciate the artwork. She also said she hopes this will open the door for more mural work to come to the area.
“The people that were there were so nice and fun. Everybody was terrific,” she said. “There was a lot of support and it was just a really easy, fun mural to do. There was no nitpicking and everybody was grateful that it was happening.”
Muck can be found on Instagram and Facebook under Muck Rock.
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