Water tower painted in dark blue camouflage, a worker standing on a suspended platform near the top, photographed through a traffic light and overhead cables against a grey sky.

Walking on Water

Year: 2019
Location: Cleveland, United States

The mural is painted on the Garrett A. Morgan Surge Tank, the water tower on West Shoreway, Cleveland. It was a joint commission by Cleveland Water and LAND studio, funded by a private donor. Sam3 was assisted by local artist Alan Giberson in completing the piece.

Aerial view of the camouflage-painted water tower beside a curving highway, with the Cleveland skyline and lake visible in the background under a clear blue sky.

Wide street-level view of the blue camouflage water tower rising above a fenced lot, with a car driving past on the road and the city skyline faintly visible on the horizon.

Distant silhouette of the water tower at sunset, seen past a dark metal fence and overgrown roadside brush, the sky glowing orange near the horizon.

The completed water tower in blue and black camouflage, seen past a stone fireplace structure and brick wall under an overcast sky.

Low-angle view of the water tower's upper tank glinting in sunlight against a partly cloudy blue sky, with a suspended work platform hanging beside the fluted column below.

Close-up view of the water tower's fluted lower section painted solid blue, with a worker on a hanging platform against a partly cloudy sky, cars and a fence visible below.

Heraclitus said no one steps into the same river twice. That idea of constant flux, panta rhei, everything flows, shaped the mural's design: a visual meditation on water as a force that transforms everything it touches.

Heraclitus, on the inspiration behind the mural, via Cleveland Water Department

Historic cylindrical water tower painted in a dark blue and black camouflage pattern, with two workers on a suspended platform partway up the tank, seen behind a brick building and fenced yard.