A large, colorful abstract mural is displayed on a wall, featuring geometric shapes and patterns in various colors, including red, yellow, blue, and gold. The mural is contrasted against a background of silver and gray tones. In the foreground, there is a textured gray carpet, along with a concrete pillar and a white table-like structure. Natural light streams in from a window, illuminating the scene.

Buell Mullen, Theatres of the World, 1964-65. Mixed media (stainless steel, nickel, gem stones, paint. SFU Art Collection. Gift of International Nickel, 1965.

A large, colorful abstract mural is displayed on a wall, featuring geometric shapes and patterns in various colors, including red, yellow, blue, and gold. The mural is contrasted against a background of silver and gray tones. In the foreground, there is a textured gray carpet, along with a concrete pillar and a white table-like structure. Natural light streams in from a window, illuminating the scene.

Title

Theatres of the World

Artist

Buell Mullen

Year

1964

Medium

Mixed media (stainless steel, nickel, gem stones, paint

Collection

SFU Art Collection

Donor

Gift of International Nickel

Year Acquired

1965

The Theatres of the World murals were created during the construction of the Leslie and Gordon Diamond Family Auditorium in 1964, as a gift to the University from the International Nickel Company (Inco). Notwithstanding forms on the outer edges evoking the open curtains of a stage, the murals are brightly-coloured, abstract works encrusted with quartz, gold nuggets and other minerals indigenous to the area. Mullen developed a method of working on stainless steel—roughing up the surface with a wire brush and then painting with a specially ground epoxy paint—and produced a number of stainless steel murals for private and public buildings. 

Artists

Buell Mullen (1901–1986) was born in Chicago and studied at the British Academy. Best-known as a muralist, she also exhibited work at Salon, Gruppo Moderno and the Chicago Art Institute.