Appetite for art: Group forms to explore public art options

By Mary Owen

Although nothing has been formalized, the newly formed Mural Association is rolling right along with its efforts to formulate where to best create a mural in the Stayton/Sublimity area.

“Paul Toews of Art Gone Wild started the whole thing,” said Mike Reding, a spokesman for the group. “He was asked by some folks in Sublimity to consider where a mural might go. He wanted to find out if there was an appetite in our Stayton and Sublimity communities to do something like this, so he gathered a few volunteers to talk about the project. That was in February. We have a rolling attendance of about eight people now and are still trying to find out just what we want to be.”

Next, the group is looking into a nonprofit status and fundraising, Reding said.

“Our mission statement is, ‘Promote the arts to enrich the North Santiam community,’” he added. “We kept it simple and broad to allow us to consider a wide range of art. We believe that we can create something that will draw the communities together and also draw people from outside our communities to come see what we have done. That could be a financial boon for local businesses.”

The Mural Association continues to seek volunteers who might be interested in serving on the board or supporting the fledgling association, Reding said.

“We also might just find some common, popular themes that could be considered for a mural,” he said, referring to an opportunity for people who are interested in participating in the project to offer their opinions at a booth that will be in front of the Jensen-Kreitzer building during SummerFest.

Art supplies will be on hand at the SummerFest booth for people to draw their vision of what the mural should be.

SummerFest kicks off at 7 a.m. with the Stayton Volunteer Firefighters Breakfast and ends with a Car Show Cruise In at 3 p.m. at Pioneer Park. Most events take place along Third Avenue in downtown Stayton on Saturday, July 25.

“We want the SummerFest event to be fun for people of all ages,” Reding said. “We are not doing this as a contest to find a specific mural idea. Instead, we want to fire the imaginations of the communities and see if we can get any common or popular concepts of what people have as a vision of our communities.”

According to Reding, the group would love to see “bunches of artistic expressions posted on the walls.”

Of the project, he added, “We haven’t reached a point where we have decided exactly what to do. It could be one mural, many murals, sculptures, buildings, or just about anything that comes under the heading of art.”