Meet Ernie Merlan | Executive Director, Muralism

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ernie Merlan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ernie, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
My entire career has been in art, as a scenic artist painting sets and backdrops for the movie industry or designing sets and editing animated movies on the computer.

In 2011 I found myself at a crossroads. Disney my biggest client was changing my contract from a 30 day pay to a 90 day pay. this meant that I had to financially float 60 employees that I had working remotely around the globe. The same day I got that email I received some visitors.

Some very persuasive ladies stopped by my studio to see if I would help them start a visual effects and animation school for young adults with Autism. I made the switch and spent the next 7 years building the school and placing those graduates at Nickelodeon, Marvel, Cartoon Network and many more studios.

In 2018 I decided I had done what I could do for the school and wanted to go back to my first love, actually doing the art and not managing a school. Coincidently, Disney Imagineering called and asked me to come back as a Black Light Mural specialist. I was thrilled to be back with a creative team and actually doing the art. At the same time I began my new “Passion Project”, Muralism.

Muralism is a nonprofit created to connect people with disabilities to the community through art. We hire young adults with special needs and train them to paint murals. Our crew learns to prep the wall and transfer artwork on to the wall. Then we invite the public, students, other nonprofits , businesses and local officials to join us in painting the mural. the Crew gains skill and learns how to work with people. Once the paint days are threw the Crew come back and details the art and applies a clear coat. The whole event is usually topped off with a ribbon cutting event with media and fanfare.

In 2020 we were painting murals on the weekend and had 8 crew members, then COVID changed a few things. Disney asked everyone to work remotely. Special needs artist that we worked with were also stuck at home with nothing todo. So we started offering remote classes. Eventually we were began masking up and painting murals outside. The city of Carpinteria even asked us to start a Mask Up chalk festival, where folks could do art, while keeping a safe distance. the city of North Hollywood asked us to paint K-Rails and electrical boxes. By the end of 2020, we had so much work that I could not go back to Disney.

That was 4 years ago now. We had originally set out to paint 100 murals by the 2028 Olympics. We have already painted over 70 murals. We have actually contracts with LAUSD to paint murals at over 15 schools by August and more projects are lining up everyday. Today we have 4 Staff, 8 Artist working 30 hrs a week plus and about 20 other special needs artist at some level of training.

My thought process is simple. Do something you love and you are willing to get up everyday and work hard at making it happen.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I was a political science major at CSUN. As the son fo immigrant parents I dreamed of being President of the USA. While in college I decided to run for a student senator seat. Poly Sci was taken since most folks with that major were politically oriented. So I changed my major to art.

I lost the election by 12 votes. 3 voting boxes disappeared from the art department.It was evident that cheating had occurred. But what a great lesson I learned. If no one is watching at a school level election, who is watching at the national level? I decide that being president would be a terrible idea. Besides I can’t think of a worse job to have. 50% of the people will always hate you.

I found my self enrolled in art classes. This added 3 years to my graduation date, but I graduated with a major in illustration. From there I began doing odd art jobs, until I eventually found myself washing buckets at JC Backings, the top backdrop company in Hollywood.

Even then, it was assumed that backdrops were a dying art. But the masters of the art were still alive and I began taking details notes of everything they did. I learned paint formulas, elements of art, skill with a brush, grids and pounces. All the things I earned as a scenic artist in the industry, I use today in Mural Painting and most importantly, pass on to my artists.

From Backdrops I began painting sets for Disney, Universal and other amusement parts. These opportunities took me around the world and taught me so much about people. The industry did change. We now use computers for just about everything we used to do on canvas and paper. However the principals of good art are the same in any medium. “learn the rules before you break the rules”- Picaso. Knowing the artists that came before you and building on those traditions and skills is what makes a good craftsman. Once you are truly a good craftsman, the art just flows our of you.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Selfishly, I would want to show them our murals. We would start with breakfast at the Old North Hollywood Train Station and talk about the “Tongvaland” Mural across the street on the back of fire station 60 in North Hollywood. From there we would head to the Chandler street murals between Vineland and Cahuenga. We would then curve back around to the “Birds on a Wire” mural on Vineland and Magnolia and the “Tiny Homes” mural on Chandler, before touring 40 electrical boxes between Valley Village and Laurel Grove.

By then it will be time for lunch so we would stop and Noodle monster on Laurel and Magnolia for a Buddha Feast. Across the street at Jons, we would visit two more electrical boxes before hitting the schools. Burbank Blvd. Elementary, Riverside Elementary, Walter Reed Middle School, Roy Romer Middle School, Van Nuys Middle School, the Wesley School and Chandler Blvd Elementary would be only a few of the schools we could visit to see the murals our team have completed in the last 5 years.

Our tour would probably end at the “Whitsett Mural” on the 101 and Sherman Way. The we would stop at Cilantro Tacos at the gas station for the best Mexican food in town. the next day we would drive up the California coast to see murals in Encino, Ventura, and Carpinteria.

But that is just me.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
When I started this journey I was a bit lost. Ricki and Joel Robinson believed so much in what I wanted to do that they funded the inception of the business. Then they found foundations that could fund us a little more to get us through the next hump. At every step of the way they encouraged me and helped spread the word of what we were doing. Not only did they put their dollars in, they put their heart and should into everything we did. Without their wisdom and friendship, I could not have done any of this.

Website: www.Muralism.org

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Image Credits
All images photographed and owned by Muralism. Artist in the picture are Ernie Merlan, Cia Atkins, Matthew Dominguez, James Hart and Jacob Reiss.