Mural Week summary

Mural Week 2021 ended on Friday and the last of the murals seem to have been finished over the weekend. There were seven planned murals and a few unplanned. The curator, the person who found the other muralists, was Cameron Moberg who did this glass of beer on the side of Fenwick Farms. He considers it a collaborative effort and signed it with his signature and that of a mysterious companion from San Francisco MNSTR Squad. 

The only mural done in the original RenArtWlk alley was by Moosy, who has developed a lot of skill since his contribution to the 2020 RenArtWlk.

The largest mural of the week was painted by Ian Ross. Here is what it looks for someone stopped at the stoplight at the intersection of US 231 and SR 114.

Another large mural, this one very visible for someone driving south on US 231, is Grizzly_Bear_Designs' octopus on the wall of Anders Water Conditioning.

Neverxtinct, an artist from Nashville, Tenneesee, painted this large mural on the northwest wall of Rule's Auto Care building. I talked to him and his friend Jack on Friday night as they were packing up for their six-hour trip back to Nashville. They hope to come back to Rensselaer in the future and paint more.

Rule's Auto Care had three of the seven planned murals. Alex Ann Allen painted another large mural on the southeast of the buildinging.

The final mural on the building was a Bronco-with-Flowers mural painted by Chicago artist Kristine Campbell.

Not planned at the beginnng but prompted by Cameron Moberg is a large mural in the cluster of murals on the alley next to Printco that was done by Ryan and Lindsey Preston. 

The mural that makes me smile is a small mural by Jackdoesart247. He came to Rensselaer to help his friend Neverxtinct work on the Love-Blooms mural but had some extra time and did this small mural. (Do you see the boat of the fisherman?)

Cameron Moberg's mysterious companion did this small monster mural. During the 2019 Mural Week there were several monsters painted on windows and manhole covers and all are now gone, destroyed or painted over. It is good to have a monster back in the alley.

There is one other painting done during the week that is almost impossible to see because it is on a roof on a uneven wall wedged between two buildings. It was done by Moosy after he finished his mural. With some effort I could make out what was in the talk balloon: "NFTs are dead."

I had to ask what that meant. NFTs are non-fungible tokens and are digital rights to a work that otherwise can be reproduced. The concept makes no sense to me, but you can read about it by searching for "non fungible tokens".

Previous posts about Mural Week:

The Start

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

For all the murals and a few extras see the unofficial guide at Art Walk Rensselaer.

County Fair, murals, and a lot of pictures

At the Fair

For the 100th anniversary the Jasper County Fair sought out some new activities. One of them was called Foam Play. A foam cannon shot foam into the parking lot and the kids waded in, getting soaked. I had several grandkids visiting and they enjoyed it. I do not know if four of them enjoyed their wet ride back to Indianapolis.

Also on Sunday there were tethered balloon rides. 

The balloon did not go very high, but there was a long line of people waiting for a ride.

I noticed an antique steam engine west of the Retired Iron barn. My interest in steam engines is explained here.

As I was leaving the balloon area, the fair queen and her court drove up in their queen-mobile. I did not wait to see if they took a balloon ride.

The Health Department had its mobile health clinic on display. I do not know if anyone ever was in it.

The carnival area seemed to be bigger this year than in recent years.

The Shake Barn is always popular.

I have not visited most of the animal barns yet. I stopped by the sheep barn to take a picture.

On Tuesday afternoon bingo was a popular event in the Community Building.

Below are a few of the many food booths at the fair.

Sunset at the Fair.

Murals

On Wednesday morning the City held a dedication ceremony for the water tower mural. First there were short talks by Cameron Mobery and Mayor Jeff Phillips talking about how the project came to be, the obstacles that had to be overcome, and the people who helped make the mural possible. In the picture below are Rein Bontrager, Mayor Phillips, Cameron Moberg, and Ryan Preston.

Behind them is a banner that lists the artists and sponsors. The name of the mural is "Autumn Caught 'Em". The leaves represented to Mr Moberg memories of his times in Rensselaer.

There was no ribbon to cut, but there were confetti guns to shoot.

Here is a short video of the confetti.

After the confetti had fallen, everyone went inside the fence for a picture by the base of the tower. There was a rather large crowd of people who attended this event.

Then to my delight the door at the base of the tower was opened and people could go inside and look up. This is what they saw.

The large gray pipe contains the water main that fills the tank and also releases water from the tank. It is insulated. There is a white pipe to its left and that is an overflow pipe. A ladder goes up to the very top of the tower; there is a passage through the water at the top. A wire alongside is for a safety harness. There are several platforms on the way up so a climber can rest.

I looked at the back of the base to see where the overflow pipe outletted. 

It took Cameron and Ryan seven days to paint this mural and one more day to clear coat it. Here is the finished result. (The best time to take a picture probably is at sunset in the summer.)

Cameron Moberg is now working on a mural in Remington.

I thought downtown Rensselaer was not getting a mural this summer, but I was wrong. Rein Bontreger is painting the back wall of the building owned by Unwind Massage, located next to the City Parking lot. It is best viewed from the bowstring-arch bridge.

City Council meeting

The Rensselaer City Council had a very short meeting on Monday evening. It approved two transfers of funds and a burial rights request for four lots. There were two quotes for a new recycling truck and the Council approved the low bid of $62,640 from Gutwein Motors. The purchase will be funded from monies from the Solid Waste District.

The City employee picnic will be this Friday. The audit of the City has been completed. The Redevelopment Commission will meet on August 5. Two employees have passed their CDL tests and two more will be starting the process. 99 lead sewer lines have been identified. Perhaps by the end of the week blacktopping at the ends of the brick streets will start. The gas department has been moving the gas meter at the high school to the outside of the building.

Brick Streets

This week the work on the Brick Streets has been preparing a foundation for the bricks.

Underneath the gravel is a mesh layer that is meant to keep layers separate and to keep the top layer smooth.

Also this week landscaping was underway.

On Tuesday City Hall got a new flagpole, replacing one on the roof.

Some people may not realize it, but there are bricks under the pavement of Washington Street.

On Wednesday a sand layer was added to a bit of Van Rensselaer and the first bricks were laid down.

Filson Park

The last bit of sidewalk along Kellner Street was finished on Wednesday. There is still sidewalk along Van Rensselaer that needs to be removed.

On Saturday the Art-in-The-Alley event is scheduled for Filson Park. It will be interesting to see how the event turns out in a not-yet-finished park.  Here is the schedule of events:

12:00PM Art in the Alley Opens w/Carnegie Players Improv

2:00PM Free Downtown Mural Tour

3:00PM World Music Special ♫

5:00PM Greg James & the Peaches ♫

7:00PM Art in the Alley Closes!

Mural week: Friday update

As I was leaving the RENARTWLK on Thursday, a tour led by Cameron Moberg was assembling so I joined it. Near the end of the tour, he mentioned that there was a Bomber Bob painted in Iroquois Park. I knew that Rein Bontreger had planned to decorate the concrete structure there, but I had not realized that he had been working on it. After the tour I bumped into Rein and he told me what he had been doing.

So Friday morning I rode over to Iroquois Park to take pictures. The side that you see from the street has a portrait of General Milroy. He was know as The Gray Eagle, so there is an eagle next to him. The bird also represents our wildlife because bald eagles have begun to nest in Jasper County. There is some corn, a staple for our agricultural base, and an Indian. Rein said it was a Iroquois, but I think the Potawotamie were the tribe that lived here before Europeans arrived. The last figure is the "Lady of the River." similar to the "Lady of the Lake" in King Author tales.

The south side has not been finished yet. It has the Rensselaer Bomber, Rein's favorite car, and a reference to Cruise Night. Unfinished is the Park logo and another car.

Rein is used to creating art on tee-shirts with a spray gun. He thought that the same skill could be used for a mural. So he got a bigger version of the spray gun that he uses for shirts and used outdoor paint that can be purchased at hardware store. I would not be surprised if he is soon doing other murals in area towns. They often want something that reflects their history and situation, and Rein is able to provide that.

More murals are being finished. Allison Bamcat (not her actual last name) signed her scarlet ibis on Thursday night.

All of the murals need to have the walls prepped before the mural is painted and usually the muralist has to do this. For the RENARTWLK the prepping was done by Ryan Preston, and the artists greatly appreciated it. Something else that was explained by Cameron was why some of the walls had small doodles on them before the painting started. They are what is called a "doodle grid." The artists takes a picture of the wall with doodles and overlays his or her drawing over it. This allows the artist to position the various elements of the mural correctly.

Suburban warrior finished her firefly mural on Friday. It is on two walls. I was surprised that she did not take the vines off before she started, but she thinks it complements the painting.

Ricky Watts was signing his work Friday afternoon. He is from Modesto, California and found this wall a challenge to work with. Cameron says that one of the marks of a good muralist is his or her ability to work with difficult walls.

A closer look of the signing.

Four people had painted their contribution to the bank mural by the end of Thursday. The butterflies are, of course, from Cameron Moberg. The pink with black marks is by Christine Riutzel, the flowers on the left by Max Sansing, and the purple flowers on the right by FASM.

Two more artists were adding their contributions on Friday afternoon. Allison Bamcat was decorating the top left and Nick Smith the bottom right.

The circle that was a mystery to me on the painting by Pawn is a hornets nest. Early morning is the best time to photograph it.

On Friday Caesar Perez was putting finishing touches on his chess queen. The crown, if one looks closing, has a city skyline in it. Caesar said that the bricks kept soaking up the paint. Because the alley is narrow and the painting tall, it is hard to find a good angle to view it.

Last night on the tour this wall was red and black. Later the artist sketched the outline and by noon it was colored though not yet finished. The artist is from Modesto, California and has known Cameron for many years. Cameron credits him with helping him become a street artist.

At the north end of the main alley, Mister Toledo is finishing up his painting.

The person depicted in Alex Ann Allen's mural is her brother who just graduated from high school. When she is done, she will have a picture of the mural put on a banner and give it to her brother as a graduation present.

This part of the Walk had one painting last year. Six more are being added this year.

As I was checking the murals on Friday morning, I noticed that the Edward Jones office had a sign on the door that it would be closed today. I saw Mr Yallaly inside and he invited me in to take a look around. The reception area has the original brick walls on both sides visible.

The front has a wall of windows.

There is a very nice office behind the reception area, as well as a conference room that can be accessed from the door on the Clark Cullen Street side, a kitchen area, and another office in the back. The remodeled interior is very attractive.