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Featured Muralists: Anna + Jonathan
The following is the fourth of a five-part series on the artists who are painting the five murals throughout Putnam County as part of the Putnam County Mural Festival. Officially under way since Sept. 11, the festival will culminate with a celebration in Greencastle on Friday, Sept. 23.
Anna Kell and Jonathan Frey are a sometimes-collaborating artist couple based in Lewisburg, Pa., where they teach painting and drawing at Bucknell University. They met in the MFA program at the University of Florida in Gainesville, but both hail from the midwest originally. Anna is from Columbus, Ind., and Jon is from Dayton, Ohio.
Together, they have been artists-in-residence at Soaring Gardens (Wyalusing, Pa.), research fellows at Cincinnati’s Lloyd Library & Museum and have shared their collaborative work in various galleries, conferences and publications since about 2010.
They are painting a mural at Off the Rails event center in Roachdale.
Q: Why did you want to create a mural in Putnam County?
A: We have been interested in expanding our mural-making experiences and have had Putnam County on our radar since seeing the impressive silo murals that were painted in Greencastle a few years ago. We’re always looking for opportunities, too, which might bring us closer to “home” and to the familiar landscapes that continue to feed our practice(s), so we were anxious to get involved in this community endeavor when we saw the call.
Q: What excites you about the specific location of your mural?
A: We love small towns, old brick buildings, and railroad-adjacent sites. We’re excited about the “patina” of this building and the opportunity to leave Roachdale with a token of our affection and kind of a new, “good-luck-charm” of an artwork.
Q: How do you hope people will engage with your art?
A: We hope people will catch glimpses of the artwork as they move through town and that the contrast of the colors and shapes draws them closer. If we can get people up close, we hope they will think about all the symbols visible in the design and how they relate to the place and its future, maybe even inspiring their own renewed investment in or appreciation for Roachdale.
Q: How did you get into mural creation? How long have you been doing it?
A: We kind of fell into muraling in 2017 after a bigger name artist had to withdraw from a local mural fest at the last minute and the organizers thought to invite us!
Q: What inspires your art?
A: When we work together, we are inspired by the challenge of balancing our opposing tendencies — clean design meets abundant, folksy imagery; logic and order meets messy chaos. We get inspired by our experiences — both visual and lived — in particular places and love digging into local signage, architecture and traditions for inspiration.
Q: What’s your next project? Where can we see more of your work?
A: You can see more of our work on our websites or, we hope, on more walls near you in the future. If you’re traveling to our neck of the woods, Jon currently has a solo show up at Washington Jefferson College through Oct. 14. And this winter, Anna will have a solo show at the Milton Art Bank in Milton, Pa.