569 - Wing Mural

Julie Hein:
Hi, welcome to Wing. I'm Julie Hein. I'm the mayor for the city. And this is the first of our many murals that will become part of our Art Alley, which will soon become.

Allie Hein:
I'm Allie Hein and I live out here in Wing, North Dakota. So Ella Swenson and I were the artists that did most of the painting part of this mural. Ella started off with the sketch and the initial layout, so I'm going to share her inspiration first and this is a quote that she gave us. My inspiration for this mural came from a love of seeing good things grow. Soil conservation practices aren't just for large scale farmers. A no till garden like the one depicted in this mural can help improve soil quality and the quality of produce grown. This mural is an expression of love for the earth, love for high quality food, and love for the small community. My inspiration came after Ella did the sketch. Then I kind of took over the sketch and worked on the layout of it and the composition. So as I was working with scale, you know, the size of things and placement of things, I got inspiration as the garden and the produce from it as a visual metaphor for members of our community. So we're a pretty tight knit group here in Wing, and each person fills a unique role. There's larger than life characters, much like the cabbage. There's smaller, more tight knit groups like the Beats that kind of get things done. And then there's all sorts of other characters we wanted to tie in, like the Farm to School initiative. One of my favorite parts about the mural is if you stand at the north end of Main street and look south, you can see both the school and the mural. We worked on it probably a couple hours each, you know, a few times a week that we could with our kids. Took us pretty much from July, I would say, till when we unveiled it in October. We also included the pretty two main landmarks for any small town, the water tower and the elevator. Those are pretty defining characteristics for any small town. You know, you see them on the horizon, you find out where you're going in a small town by those two landmarks. So I wanted to incorporate those, but not have those be the main subject of the mural. They kind of draw us in, but then as you look in deeper, you really get to know the character of the community. So I got an art degree, but then I kind of stopped doing art, became a mother. So it feels like this is kind of my first major project coming out of, you know, having little children and back into doing some more art.

Molly McLean:
Hi, I'm Molly McLean. Welcome to Wing, North Dakota. We're in front of the Farm to School mural, which was completed in the summer of 2023. And I'd like to share a little bit about how this project came to be. And I'd like to recognize the memory of the late Burleigh County Commissioner Becky Matthews. We had known each other for quite some time, and she was a rural advocate. And she approached Katie Jonke at Bismarck Burleigh Public Health and recognized Katie's work within the city of Bismarck with the arts and with Community Place making gently challenged public health to say, you know, what are you doing out in the county? And that was her rural advocacy. May commissioner Matthews memory rests in power. And that was part of the reason this came to be. This mural was made possible through a number of partnerships, including Bismarck Burleigh Public Health, the Department of Public Instruction, and their local foods division. As this is a Farm to school mural, and the Northern Plains National Heritage Area was also a partner in this. The inspiration for this mural really was community and what Wing's values and roots are. This was the first mural that I've done as a mosaic artist and oftentimes mixed media artist that is a mixed media mural. So this has painting and mosaic elements, which was really a fun experiment to do. And as a mom of a young daughter, alongside Ella and Allie, both working moms and artists, it was really, I think that was a challenge for us. And it was also a source of companionship and inspiration because we were able to come here with our kids, make art, kids would play. We'd be, you know, creating this mural. So just that space of companionship support. Nurturing, too. Just as gardens are nurtured, this art piece was very nurturing, I think, for all of us. And I wanted to point out the reason it's in the middle. There was a big crack here, and we thought, well, it should be centered, so it should be a painting. And then with the big crack, we thought, how will we cover up the crack? And that cornstalk and the glass was our solution. So that's sort of how this all fell into place, I guess, or was pieced together. And it was really a wonderful project to be part of. And I'm grateful.

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