Disney's Contemporary Resort is meant to be thoroughly ultra-modern in design, from its dramatic A-frame structure to the sleek monorails whisking through its atrium. Even the room decor and furnishings have been updated over the years to keep the Contemporary looking, well... contemporary.
There's one aspect of the resort, however, that hasn't changed at all since it debuted in 1971 - the ninety-foot-high tile mural that graces the Grand Canyon Concourse. The warm earth tones of the mural were intended to balance the cold grey concrete, glass and steel used for the majority of the building, and it continues to serve that purpose well today.
The mural was designed by Imagineering artist Mary Blair, best known for her work on Disney films from The Three Caballeros to Peter Pan, as well as her masterpiece efforts on "It's a Small World." The Small World influence is easy to see in the bold colors, geometric shapes and styling of the Native American children depicted here.
Look up near the top of the mural, and you may just spot the infamous 5-legged goat. Several stories exist as to why one of the mountain goats has five legs. The most popular seems to be that this was Blair's way of saying that nature is perfect, but any man-made interpretation of nature is inherently imperfect. Sounds good to me. Of course, since Mary left us in 1978, we can't ask her, so we may never truly know.
This is great, I love Mary Blair! Thanks for posting
ReplyDelete