Step inside of the Hall of State in Dallas, Tex., and you'll find the past and present of the Lone Star State portrayed in two 30'x90' murals. One of them depicts three centuries of Texas history. The other represents the evolution of her statehood.

Smaller murals in the building illustrate aspects of the state's four geographical areas. The large murals were done by Eugene Savage, a professor of art at Yale University. The other pieces were done by local Texas artists.

Many techniques -- fresco, tempera, ceramic and others -- have been used throughout the ages to create murals. Perhaps fresco, one of the oldest, is the most prominent. The frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican were begun by Michelangelo in 1508 and completed in 1512.

The early murals represented a form of art which had the distinction of being inherent to the building's wall or ceiling as opposed to being "hung" on them. Frescoes illustrate this permanency.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, frescoes were painted on "freshly applied, wet lime-plaster walls with colors made by grinding artists' dry powder pigments in pure water." The colors dry and set with the plaster to become a permanent part of the wall.

The earliest murals, found in prehistoric caves and tombs, featured aspects of tribal life -- especially animals and hunts. In the classical period, heroic murals covered large walls of temples and public buildings. In Pompeii, murals found on the walls of private homes attested to their artistic importance in the culture of that time.

In modern life, fresco painting has lost popularity because of the time-consuming effort the process requires. However, in the 1930s, it enjoyed a revival by both American and Mexican artists. Their murals depicted social issues, religious themes and patriotic images.

Known for his frescoes of revolutionary struggles in his native Mexico, the gifted artist Jose Orozco also painted murals in California's Pamona College; in the New School for Social Research, New York City; and in the Library of Dartmouth College.

Here in the U.S., also during the 30s, the Federal Art Project, under the auspices of the WPA, came into being. This program grew to involve 5,000 artists and resulted in some 2,566 murals, which decorated many public buildings during the eight years of that effort.

The Norwalk Collection of WPA Murals was made possible by a grant, which enabled the Historical Commission in that Connecticut town to restore murals that were done by the WPA artists an put them on display in their City Hall. One of them shows the purchase of Norwalk from the Indian Chief Mahackemo. Done by Harry Townsend, it's 18' long and 9' high.

Elsewhere in our country, mural displays are popular. Dotham, Ala., sponsors The Wiregrass Festival of Murals. One is A Salute to the Peanut Industry by artists Susan Tooke and Bruce Pickett. Another depicts DeSoto's Journey Through the Wiregrass Region by artist Art Rosenbaum.

Let us now travel west to California, where the California State Library Foundation, with Frank Van Sloan's 12-panel mural, decorates the first floor. The murals depict the history of warfare from neolithic times through World War I.

Murals by both professional artists and students decorate the walls of buildings in many other American towns and cities. In Fairhope, Ala., colorful fish, painted by local artist Amy Jones, brightens up the entire outside wall of a store on the corner of Fairhope Ave. and Church St.

Another contemporary example, Love Takes Flight, recently completed by five students at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, decorates a wall of the Philadelphia International Airport. After the completion of a new ticket counter, this 86" x 420" mural will be moved to th city's Ronald McDonald House, the primary charity of Southwest Airlines.

Now, should you be traveling in the vicinity of Mitchell, S.D., do plan to stop and see the murals there. Every year, eleven new scenes are made from 3,000 bushels of corn in several different colors. They depict rural and historic subjects on the facade of Mitchell's famous Corn Palace, the only museum in the world that is dedicated to corn.

Artwork at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, S.D. ­ like this mural shown ­ is made from actual corn.

The artist Jose Orozco is known for his frescoes of
revolutionary struggles in his native Mexico.

This mural by Harry Townsend, depicting the purchase of Norwalk, Conn., from the Indian Cief Mahackemo, is 18' x 9'. It is in the Norwalk City Hall.

Michelangelo's fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican took four years to complete (1508-12).