New mural to take flight this summer in Wabash
By Carolyn Muyskens | Wabash Plain Dealer
Erica Tyson will be painting on a new kind of canvas on Miami Street beginning Sunday. She is creating downtown’s newest mural, Wings@Wabash, at the site of the Wabash County Charms mural near the Schlemmer Brothers Hearth storefront, Wabash Marketplace announced Thursday.
The mural will feature two butterfly designs perfect for posing with.
“I love it because it’s interactive,” Tyson said. “The fact that kids can interact with a piece of art is great. It’s hard for kids to interact with a piece of art that’s hanging on a wall.”
Tyson would know. She is an art teacher at Southwood Elementary, in addition to running her own art studio, The Orange Door Art Studio, out of her home in Peru.
Andrea Zwiebel, project coordinator for Wabash Marketplace, said the project was inspired by similar wing murals in cities like Nashville, Tennessee. Tyson said she and Zwiebel had twin ideas. Since taking pictures of her own kids in front of an angel wing mural in Traverse City, Michigan, she’s wanted to find a place for a similar mural in Wabash.
“I was thinking about it, they (Wabash Marketplace) were thinking about it, and we just combined ideas,” Tyson said.
The mural includes two butterflies, one big enough for adults to pose with and one that’s kiddie and pet sized. The idea is the mural will become a go-to spot for photo shoots, Wabash Marketplace said.
“It gives people a reason to come down here and it gives people an opportunity to share it too,” Tyson said.
Tyson was inspired by Wabash’s “iconic” courthouse, which forms parts of the pattern inside the wings, with the tower as the butterfly’s head, Christmas lights and all.
She will be at work on the mural this Sunday, during First Friday on June 7 and throughout the week of June 10, weather permitting.
Wabash Marketplace is accepting donations to support the mural. Big City Paints donated the paint, and Schlemmer Brothers, Visit Wabash County and The Orange Door Studio are also named as sponsors.
