Mural week 2020, Wednesday update

The name of the painting below is "Green Thumb." The artist, Max Sansing, is from Chicago and met Cameron Moberg, the curator, while working on murals in Lafayette. Rensselaer was near by for him. He finds Rensselaer very quiet.

Caesar Perez is also from Chicago and has worked on murals with Max Sansing in the past. Max suggested him to Cameron and that is how he got picked for this mural fest. His painting is of a chess piece, the queen.

The artist working on this wall goes by the name Pawn and would not give me more. He is from Sacramento and knew Cameron from California. He came to Rensselaer because he wanted to paint more outside of California.

Mister Toledo, whose last name is Toledo, is another artist from California, in his case, Los Angeles. Despite living in the same state as Cameron, it was a mural that he did in Miami that caught Cameron's attention. He has a small wall to work with but he did not bring a lot of paint. The picture does not have a title. 

Allison Bamcat is another California artist from Los Angeles. Mister Toledo recommended her to Cameron. The bird is a scarlet ibis.

A fourth California artist is Ricky Watts. 

Indiana is represented by several artists. Alex Ann Allen is from South Bend. Cameron found her from her Instagram account. Like many of the artists, she was enjoying networking, making new friends, and learning from the other artists.

Mitchell Austin is a second Indiana artist and I think he has finished this work. It is signed with his signature Metabyte and adds "In memory M Riley," who died on Friday. The picture is on the back of what was the Riley Law Office.

Nick Smith does abstract art in his murals. He grew up in New Palestine, Indiana but is now living in Indianapolis. He was chosen for the mural fest because abstract art adds variety to the collection of murals.

Rensselaer's own Trent Musch is doing something with octopus or squid arms. He is a beginning muralist who has a commission to do murals in Bloomington.

Cameron found Christine Riutzel on Instagram. She is self taught and has not done a lot of mural work. She was a bit intimidated with the prospect of working alongside of some well-known muralists, but painting in a mural fest was something she wanted to do. She like other artists has enjoyed meeting other mural painters and learning from them.

On Wednesday afternoon some young people were paint the word "Love" on the alley. They know that it will not last long once traffic starts driving over it.

Two artists have not yet arrived in Rensselaer. One who arrived today paints with the name suburban warrior and she will start a mural tomorrow.

A big mural has been sketched for the wall of First Merchants Bank.

While the artists were painting, the paving crew was paving SR 114 on Cullen Street.