Will Mouat

What started as a dad’s love letter to his kids, and his town, has transformed into a fundraiser to support Piedmont’s art programs.
Local artist Will Mouat has always loved creating art, with a history of working in watercolor, acrylic, and mixed media. His latest project captures everyday life in Piedmont.
“I wanted to record some of the cool things that [my kids have] done as little kids, what’s really charming and sweet about living in a small town,” Mouat said.
The digital painting took over 80 hours and 80,000 brush strokes to complete. Mouat said he often worked on it while his daughter was at swim team competitions.
“I don’t think I’ve ever done an art project that took that much time,” he said.
The artwork is filled with recognizable Piedmont scenes such as Cops and Coffee, the Fourth of July parade, Mulberry’s Market, and all three elementary schools. He also included the park where he flies kites with his son, and images of colorful houses.
“A lot of these houses are real houses,” Mouat said.
Mouat said that one of the biggest challenges was getting the perspective right.
“[The painting starts at] the very tip-top, looking down at San Francisco, so everything is kind of inverted,” he said.
Originally, the piece was meant just for his family, but when guests started asking to buy copies, Mouat decided to turn it into something bigger.
“I’ve never sold any art ever,” he said.
That changed when he reached out to PHS art teacher Gillain Bailey, and the idea for a fundraiser was born.
Mouat said that Bailey told him that one of the high school’s ceramics kilns had recently broken and he decided to put the money he got from selling each print for $150 towards helping repair it and PUSD arts programs in general.
“A new kiln is probably going to cost about $6000,” said Bailey. “Anything above $3000 is going to be distributed among other visual arts [programs] in Piedmont Unified.”
Ceramics students are excited for the new kiln.
“[The broken kiln effects] the speed of how fast the work gets out,” said AP ceramics student, senior Arrietty Pereira-Elliot.
When a sale is made, Mouat sends the image, stored as a high-resolution PNG file, to a printer in Berkeley who produces giclé prints.
“When people donate, we have to pay [the printer] to make them, and then whatever’s left over, probably about $100 per donation, goes straight to the arts programs,” Mouat said.