Highland Arts Council developing mural project to further enhance city’s public art
Highland’s Weinheimer Building may soon become a very large canvas to add to the city’s public artwork.
The Highland Arts Council is developing a project to turn the exterior wall of the Weinheimer Building into a mural, with the possible help of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
“Painting on walls goes back over 10,000 years,” wrote HAC director Lynnette Schuepbach in her memo to the city council. “But since the 1960s, artists of all types in the U.S. and around the world have established mural painting as a powerful new tool for artistic and social expression.”
Highland already has at least four murals across town, including one celebrating the city’s 175th anniversary jubilee.
Now the arts council is applying for a $10,000 NEA grant to partially fund the new mural. It’s a $10,000 grant that requires at least an equal match, but the mural project will easily exceed that at an estimated $34,000, according to the memo.
Schuepbach said she is optimistic about the chances at getting the grant. “I’m feeling pretty comfortable about it, because they are the ones that called us,” she said. The Highland Arts Council received multiple contacts encouraging them to apply, and she said it is a non-competitive grant, so they don’t have to vie against other applicants.
Schuepbach said the arts council believes the mural will help with tourism and build on Highland’s reputation as a city for the arts.
The mural would be designed and painted by father-daughter muralists Robert and Liza Fishbone, based in St. Louis. The Fishbones have been involved with more than 200 mural projects since 1974, according to the HAC memo, combining their styles into many varieties of projects throughout St. Louis, as well as Memphis; Cincinnati; Lexington, Kentucky; Oklahoma City; El Paso, Texas and more.
“We’ve sent them the two history books we have for Highland,” Schuepbach said. “It will represent Highland’s history and the Weisenheimer building’s history, as well as what’s happening now… It will fit our community and represent who we are and what has happened in our building.”
In addition to designing and painting the mural itself, the HAC has worked with the Fishbones to offer public educational sessions during the painting process itself, which they have done in Indiana, Ohio and Texas, among others.
“HAC has witnessed how a single project creates a groundswell of appreciation, and a desire for more,” Schuepbach wrote. “We expect this to be the case with Highland residents.”
Fundraiding effort
The arts council is planning a fundraising effort to raise the matching funds and the remaining amount needed to complete the project. Schuepbach said those plans are still in progress, but hopes to announce them in the near future.
The Highland Arts Council should hear about the NEA grant by the end of the year, and the earliest that work would begin would be May. In the interim, the arts council and the city would need to approve the design created by the Fishbones.
The Highland City Council voted unanimously last Monday to approve the project. If everything falls into place, Schuepbach said she hopes it will be completed by next year’s Art in the Park festival.