LADY OF THE LAKE

This is a "fresco." The renowned murals of Raphael and Michelangelo (in the Sistine Chapel) were done using a method called fresco, an ancient historical art form. Fresco is the procedure by which design and color are painted on a specifically prepared wall of freshly laid plaster.

The fresco on the entry wall of the Huber Funeral Home in Excelsior, Minnesota was executed by Mark G. Balma, a noted Excelsior and Minneapolis, Minnesota artist who apprenticed in Italy under the world famous fresco artist, Master Pietro Annigoni.

Balma also executed the frescoes at Saint Mary’s College in Winona, Minnesota. He is presently in Italy under a five million dollar, seven-year contract, commissioned as the lead artist to do a 20,000 square foot fresco at the Cathedral of Saint Francis of Assisi in that Italian City.

 

It took almost five months for Balma to produce the Huber fresco, much of that as studio time. About one-fourth of the time was actual preparation of the wall and the painting of the artwork itself. All materials were obtained in Italy and were prepared by the artist. The lime was cured for at least one year; the sand and all color materials were hand-ground.

 

The “magic time” of eight hours per day was devoted to wetting of the wall, laying of the plaster for a single day’s work, “pouncing” of the design and tracings on the wet plaster and the painting time, day-by-day, for almost two weeks.  

The culmination of all this planning, preparation and talent is the eight by fifteen foot fresco in the entry of the Excelsior Huber Funeral Home. “LADY OF THE LAKE” depicts a woman on a window ledge, gazing out over a small village and a distant lake. The fresco transforms a simple setting into a work of art, inspiring a spiritual response for many who view it.