Pilato’s Heister Street Mural to Expand

Muralist Michael Pilato has plans to expand his Heister Street “Inspiration Mural” around the block, adding more students and other Penn State symbols that have emerged as leaders over the past year.

Pilato says that he’ll be spending a large part of the next month at the mural touching up parts that are fading or otherwise eroding. He will also be adding many other figures to the mural, including students who have “done awesome things” over the past year at Penn State.

“I’m going to expand the mural around the corner down Calder [Way],” Pilato said, as he added a yellow background to some of his previous work.

Pilato says that although details are still being finalized, he wants to break up the sidewalk in front of the mural and sell bricks on which people can inscribe their names or organizations in order to fund these new additions. “This is going to be a very student centric project,” Pilato said.

Pilato says that he is planning on adding insignia’s to honor THON and the Blue Band, as well as a caricature of his former probation officer who helped him get through some of toughest times in his life.

Pilato hopes to make the new additions appear as if they are walking around the block, calling it the “Inspiration Way.”

Pilato has several other projects in the works, including a mobile iPhone app which will allow people to identify subjects on the mural and learn more about their personal stories. The app is currently being designed by students, with a basic version planned for release by the end of the semester.