Iron Horse Hotel Commissions Artist to Create Guest Room Murals

Artist Charles J. Dwyer pays homage to Milwaukee women, building's Industrial Era roots

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. October 14, 2008

MILWAUKEE, WI, February 27, 2008. Noted artist and Milwaukee native Charles J. Dwyer tells a strong narrative through his editorial and fashion-based photographs. These stories are to become a very public statement, thanks to a commission by the new Iron Horse Hotel. The developer commissioned the artist to use his volumes of fine art, fashion photography to create original mixed-media murals to adorn entire walls in the guest rooms of the hotel, opening in summer 2008.

Dwyer's signature style concurrently blends and contrasts classical aesthetics with romanticism and modern techniques, which aligns well with the hotel interiors of preserving the authentic industrial era of the 100-year-old, redeveloped warehouse.

Dwyer and the hotel's developer, Milwaukeean Tim Dixon are childhood friends. As Dixon refined his vision for the Iron Horse Hotel's interiors, he called upon Dwyer to infuse that vision into the hotel's art. For Dwyer, nothing could have come more naturally; he has been capturing evocative and seamlessly fused images of Milwaukee women for years.

Nationally, Dwyer is renowned for his mastery of drawing and painting the female figurative subject. His mixed-media works - employ his autobiographical account interweaved with symbols, designs, and abstract diversions to layer art history with his own bold and unique vision - have been described by critics as classical and worthy of standing the test of time.

A few years ago, Dwyer actively began challenging the stereotypes of Milwaukee women through fashion-forward and provocative images. He began photographing local women, acquaintances and inexperienced models, making costumes and building original and ornate stage sets to accentuate the timeless nature of the female subject. At the Iron Horse Hotel, these images will be printed in large format on archival canvas, hand embellished by Dwyer, and installed in each of the guest rooms. A total of 20 images will be selected, one for each room per floor and then repeated on the five subsequent guest floors.

Each sepia-toned photographic mural is embellished with a patina of transparent hues that reflect the hotel's overall color palette - rust, Verde green, hemlock gold, steel and aubergine. In fact, Dwyer served as a color consultant on the entire project. Prior to the renovation of the interior, he created an original series of photographs in the building's boiler room during construction. Some of these images will adorn walls of what is now called The Boiler Room, retrofitted with a massive hot tub.

Dwyer was also commissioned to create original frescoes sensitive to the WPA style throughout the hotel. He is no stranger to this work because of his experience in the restoration of historical buildings. In addition to fine art, Dwyer is a muralist who has restored landmark works from a dome in the Cathedral of Notre Dame to the murals of the Waldorf Astoria, NYC. He has taken these skills and applied them to what has been his signature portraiture works.

The Wisconsin native and graduate of the Milwaukee School of Art has developed a national following since his first New York exhibition sold out in 1992. Dwyer says it has been fulfilling to work on such a prominent project in the city he calls home with one of his closest lifelong friends. It's this passion for the commission that is reflected in the many aspects of The Iron Horse Hotel the artist has touched.