Family turns eyesores into public art

SANDPOINT — Peter Goetzinger travels the country working a kind of artistic magic — he can make giant water tanks disappear into the surrounding landscape. Then again, he can make them stand boldly out from it, depending on what the client wants.

In both cases, the projects fall into what most would consider to be “extreme art.”

“You have to be really comfortable with heights and familiar with the safety concerns,” said Goetzinger, who does the work with his brother, Rolf, and more recently, his son, Orion. “You can be a great painter, but if you’re uncomfortable being 150 feet off the ground and swaying six feet side-to-side, that’s a concern.”

The brothers started painting water tanks about 20 years ago and now do an average of 4-5 major projects a year. Their clients are primarily state agencies and municipalities looking to transform industrial eyesores into attractive murals.

The work has taken the Sandpoint-area artist from the furthest corners of the Northwest to the tip of Florida, with jobs in the Midwest, California and Alaska rounding out the list. Demand for their services has increased as neighborhoods begin to encroach on tanks that once sat in the middle of nowhere.

One of their most popular scenics involves treescapes that blend seamlessly into the surrounding terrain. In Washington state, fir and pine might adorn the giant water tanks, while California is better suited to live oak trees. The effect is so pleasing that the finished tanks have actually improved property values in some places.

“That’s what happened in Placerville, Calif.,” the artist said. “We like to think it was because of the artwork. We get compliments from the neighbors all the time, because it almost feels like public art.”

The knack for visual illusion harks back to Peter Goetzinger’s background as a theatrical artist. In Seattle, he painted backdrops for that city’s opera and ballet companies.

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“That’s where I learned to enjoy working big and that’s what helped me get into this,” he said. “It’s a lot like theater work, just bigger.

“And like my art professor in college always said,” he continued in jest, “if you can’t make it good, make it big.”

To put that in context, a string of letters on a city seal that doesn’t look all that large from the ground might be several yards long, with each letter standing the size of a full-grown man.

Goetzinger likened the work to working on a canvas or a wall, with two major differences: Those surfaces are flat, not round, and you can easily step back from them to get a sense of composition and perspective.

“That’s not as easy when you’re doing a mural on a tank, because it takes a lot of time just to get down,” he explained.

And time, for these jobs, really does mean money. The type of lift the brothers use runs about $5,000 a week to rent. The epoxy paint, which dries in an hour, costs $400 a gallon. So, when the Goetzingers roll up to the job site, they start early and keep at it until well after sundown.

“We buckle in, put our harnesses on and paint until the lights go out,” the artist said. “Most of the time, we work 10- to 12-hour days.”

Project deadlines might keep the two working quickly, but weather can push them to work even faster, according to Goetzinger.

“If you’re struggling to get something done, you want to get it done,” he said, adding that the work is sometimes done with one eye on the weather. “But storms can move in quickly and when you’re on a water tank, you’re the tallest thing out there — you are the lightning rod.”

On the flip side, weather can also be a professional asset.

“It’s nice working in the sunny states, especially in winter,” Goetzinger said. “Going to work in California in February is really nice.”

The brothers have enlisted a new generation in the family business — Rolf, with his daughter, Anja, and Peter, whose son, Orion, recently completed a water tank in Tampa, Fla., with his father.

“They’re both interested,” said Peter. “It would be nice if they would take up the yoke.”

It would take some time, no doubt, for these progeny to reach the stage of intuitive artwork their dads have achieved over time. Where once the brothers had to map out the end result in advance, they now present an artists’ rendering for approval and then jump headlong into the work with their 6-inch rollers and epoxy paint.

“The hardest thing for us now is working to keep things random so it looks natural,” said Goetzinger.

Speaking of random, he has developed a habit of secreting away hidden images in the giant murals as a kind of artistic signature. Unless you watched him in the act, you’d never know what lurks in the mist between those evergreen branches or peers around the corner of an oak tree trunk.

“I like to do things like add a flying saucers and aliens or paint the whole family’s initials somewhere,” he said. “Only we know they’re in there, which makes it kind of fun.”

To see examples of water tank murals painted by the Goetzingers, visit them online at: www.artistbrothers.com