Future of City Hall Murals Uncertain
As City Hall staff prepare to close the current location on Friday and move to their new location on Sixth Street, some local artists are bidding farewell to murals in the stairwell.
In an effort to encourage healthy lifestyles, the City of Marshfield’s former Wellness Committee developed a beautification plan for City Hall’s seven flights of stairs to incentivize workers and visitors to take the stairs instead of the elevators. Local artists were called upon to paint murals in the stairwell, each given $100 to help cover some of the cost of the art supplies.
“It was fun collaborating with artists on the City Hall stairwell project,” said Lara Baehr, project coordinator. “The project showcased artwork which encouraged employees and visitors of City Hall to make the healthier choice of taking the stairs.”
“When I learned about the project, I immediately got excited about it: public art is a great way to enrich and inspire any community,” said Ines Krolo, whose abstract portrait entitled “Joy” adorns the highest landing in the building.
“Great public spaces are more than just physical locations: they can be so much more when interlaced with creativity and art,” she added. “Then they become locations where community comes alive, where bonds among neighbors are strengthened and where a sense of belonging is fostered.”
“The paintings were a lot of fun to do,” said Dana Speth, who contributed two murals to the project. “I was used to painting on canvas, so doing a whole wall was a new challenge. It was also interesting having people walk by while I was painting and stop to look.”
“For me it was a huge honor to be given a great opportunity share my art on such a large scale, and for so many people to enjoy it,” added Katie Slaby, who also has two murals. “It gives artists a real sense of belonging, support and appreciation.”
Krolo added that public art can spark economic development and drive environmental sustainability.
“I was happy when Lara put her trust in me and gave me a complete freedom to create. So, being an immigrant with no real connection to Marshfield, my inspiration came from within me, as usual,” she said. “I just tried to express my inner joy and optimism in shape of some imaginary abstract women face, waved with flowers, lace and vibrant colors, aiming for not representative image, rather sentiment and emotion.”
With her mural being placed on one of the top floors, she decided to create something more extravagant to give people an extra motivation to climb the stairs.
“I love the idea of using art to encourage people to be more active,” added Speth. “I hope other places in town consider doing something like what was done at City Hall. You can never have enough art.”
Both the artists and Baehr hope the new building owners, whoever they end up being, are able to incorporate the stairwell murals into their goals.
“There was always that knowledge from the beginning that they could one day get painted over or destroyed in a remodel (that’s the problem with painting on an immovable surface), but I really hope that whoever ends up with city hall appreciates what a nice addition they are to an otherwise plain stairwell and does what they can to preserve them,” said Speth.
“I hope they find a new way to continue to support the local arts,” said Slaby.
“It took me around 40 hours to finish the whole project, starting from an idea and working with a free hand without any mapped sketch on wall, but listening to the mural to take me where it wants,” added Krolo. “I really hope that new owner shares the same enthusiasm for public art as I do, for the sake of our community.”
