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Carl Cowden III is Tampa Bay’s premier painter of murals

Artist Carl Cowden III

In 1974, while still in high school, Carl Cowden III painted a 4 x 8 panel that was part of a temporary construction wall. That project, part of a contest for students, won him second place. Today, Cowden is Tampa Bay’s premier painter of murals.

He graduated from the University of Tampa in 1978 with a degree in fine arts and then got a job with the Community Design Center as a mural artist. The Community Design Center was a Tampa non-profit that developed building and restoration codes for historic neighborhoods. Between 1978 and 1980, he completed six large public murals.

During those early years, he was also known locally for his music.  His band, the Voodoo Idols, began performing in 1978 and continued until 1986.

Safety Harbor Fire Station mural

While he doesn’t limit his work to murals, the murals may be what he is best known for, and he is proud of the contribution they make to the community.

“Public art adds to the quality of life and property,” Cowden said. “These are images that are enjoyed by generations for generations.”

Cowden’s murals can be found just about anywhere and everywhere in Tampa Bay, and all kinds of clients pay for his services. For example, after the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup in 2004, the team and the local Outdoor Arts Foundation decided to depict the victory on a 10-foot-by-28-foot oil tank at 39th Street and Adamo Drive. Cowden had to work 130 feet off the ground to get that project completed.

According to Cowden, the lifespan of any mural depend on a number of factors.

Oldsmar City Hall mural

“Of ultimate importance is the condition of the wall before it is painted — the quality of the wall preparation as well as the paint and sealer used to complete the mural,” he said. “The wall must be sealed well, especially at the top. This keeps moisture from seeping behind the paint or substrate, which can destroy it from the inside out.”
 
A public mural’s value is largely determined by the community it serves as well as by the property owner, Cowden said, making the projects very site-specific. The process can be complicated somewhat by the fact that property owners may not live in the local community.

“When I begin a design, I like to speak to the local community and the individuals who will live with it,” he said. “In this way, it is more than just a pretty picture — it is something that has meaning and value to the community. When the people who live with a mural have no say in it, or it deteriorates, or the community loses its unity, its value is diminished and it is subject to vandalism and the owner’s needs.”

Success follows an understanding of purpose, a strong foundation, and maintenance of that purpose, he said.

“This process is not limited to murals, but is actually the way of all life,” Cowden said. “When these values come together, a mural is provided that raises the quality of life for that community and for all who pass through it for as long as it is maintained.”

I found Carl when I did a couple of blog posts about murals that I noticed in Clearwater. I saw his name at the bottom of a Clearwater mural depicting the Scranton Arcade. When I did a little research on that project, I found Carl mentioned in a St. Petersburg TIMES article.

We met in downtown Tampa recently, right across the street from a building where he had painted a mural a

Franklin Street mural

number of years ago showing a Franklin Street scene from the 1920s or 30s. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to Carl, someone had painted over that mural, something that occasionally happens as property owners or developers
find new uses for their properties.

On a recent Saturday I looked at another, smaller mural he painted on Tampa’s Franklin Street, as well as much more ambitious projects, one a street scene on the back of the Oldsmar City Hall and another a depiction of horse-drawn fire equipment on the second floor front of the Safety Harbor Fire Station.
 
He says the mural work has slowed due to budget restraints, but he still completes a project about once a year.

Cowden has never gotten rich in the mural business, mostly because governments often allot relatively small appropriations for ambitious mural projects that should pay him much more.

“That’s the amount of money that’s available most of the time,” he said.  “What are you going to do?”

Murals are only a part of Cowden’s artistic repertoire. Through his business, Cowden Art Services LLC, Cowden provides all sorts of art services, including fine art and illustration, custom signage, restoration, repair, custom framing and installation. You can see more of his art work here.

“I like to say that I do almost anything and everything to make a living as an artist,” he said. “Having been working in the area of 35 years, if I can’t do it I probably know someone who can.”

In addition, he is the master printer at Studio-F, and is the Scarfone Hartley Gallery preparator. Both of them are housed at the University of Tampa.

One thing I enjoyed about looking closely at Cowden’s murals was the little details and sub-stories I found in his work. For example, in the Oldsmar mural, a solitary eagle or osprey circles up near the roof of the building against a blue sky; down below, off to one side, a dog and a cat square off in a confrontation in front of a store.

Newsboy detail

And of course there was my favorite little detail; a newsboy hawking papers on a street corner.

Carl Cowden can be reached at 813-545-9109, or at carlcowdeniii@yahoo.com.

Tags: art, carl cowden, Clearwater, murals, Tampa Bay

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 28th, 2009 at 1:32 pm and is filed under Tampa Bay, things to do. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1. Lubiana said at September 19th, 2010 at 12:23 pm

   Lovely work Carl. I didn’t know you were so famous.

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