With silos primed and prepped, final mural design unveiled

With a few changes made, the final design for the Putnam County Mural Project to be installed on the S & W Feed Center silos has been unveiled. The mural is set to be painted during the second half of September.

Courtesy Key Detail

The Putnam County Mural Project has released its final mural design that will be painted on four large grain silos located at the corner of Veterans Memorial Highway and U.S. 231 in Greencastle.

On Aug. 2, nearly 1,000 community members voted on their favorite design rendering, which were both produced by internationally-known artist Key Detail. The renderings were the result of six weeks of community input on the mural’s style and content.

After receiving feedback from the community during the Aug. 2 vote, the committee continued to work with the artist on some changes based on suggestions most frequently heard from residents.

“Our project is about inviting Putnam County residents to be a part of the artistic process,” said Chris Flegal, who leads the volunteer group promoting the Putnam County Mural Project. “We are committed to listening to the many voices throughout Putnam County and the updates to the final design reflect many of the recurring ideas and recommendations we heard during the com https://grn.tracker.rustcom.net/scripts/admin/stories/create.php munity vote. We are thrilled to see so many people embrace this project, share their ideas and get excited about public art.”

Some of the design’s themes include the bald eagle — an American symbol of strength that pays tribute to the sacrifice of the veterans who are memorialized on the very highway where the silos stand; a scene of agriculture to represent our county’s farming heritage; a panel celebrating our county’s strong assets in the performing and visual arts; and a scene of nature that highlights the beauty surrounding us all.

Over the past two weeks, a painting crew has prepped and primed the silo “canvases.” Key Detail will arrive in mid-September and the mural installation will be complete by the end of September.

In addition to painting the mural, Key Detail will host a session for community members interested in learning about public art through murals, specifically focusing on spray paint and stenciling techniques.

The public will also be invited to a community block party at the end of the mural installation to celebrate the project’s completion. Details will be announced soon.

Key Detail is the artist name for Andrei Krautsou who, along with his wife Julia Yu-Baba, will be working on the mural. Krautsou studied architecture and design in Minsk, Belarus and is currently based in New York. He and Julia have completed more than 50 large-scale murals over the past nine years all over the world and their artwork has been featured in a number of international magazines and books.

To learn more about the project, please visit www.putnamcountymuralproject.org.