More Than A Mural
Centerville’s Community Based Mural Project
By Jared Hybertson, Community & Economic Development Coordinator – Centerville, SD
Why have we seen more murals going up in towns across South Dakota recently? While the idea is nothing new, more and more communities are getting on board with the mural movement for various reasons. Generally speaking, murals make neighborhoods and downtowns more vibrant and beautiful. They help add value to these towns that people will want to visit, live in and hopefully take care of. A well thought out mural can be engaging, thought provoking and even stir feelings or a memory in a viewer.
Centerville’s latest mural project hits on all of those. But on the surface at first glance, it might be challenging to see for some. The story behind the process of coming up with the design for this latest mural and its details is one that deserves to be told and elaborated on. For the development of this mural, we used what is called the community-based mural process. This method for creating a mural is a unique one as it works to engage a broader population of the community in the various stages of its creation. Which in turn also made this large-scale mural project more challenging at times. But in the end, I believe it also made this project and the finished product more rewarding.
I will back up to the beginning. In my time with the Centerville Development Corporation, we had already spearheaded two other mural projects prior to this one. All funded by various grant opportunities and our own organizations commitment to keeping our downtown attractive. The first mural design was in the style of a traditional Americana scene. Largely conceptualizing what Centerville might have been like for some of our early settlers to town around the turn of the century. In it a train and train depot, a farm scene and the Vermillion River. In the center the steadfast and unwavering farmer, his wife and young daughter. In the background a darkening blueish-purple sky and a mighty tornado approaching. A nod to Centerville’s powerful mascot. The family, alert but undaunted, staring off into the horizon as to say we won’t back down. There are some obvious, deep-rooted meanings in this mural for many in the community.
The second mural in our downtown was done not that long ago on the ambulance building and is more in the style of a traditional block letter postcard. The phrase, Greetings from Centerville South Dakota is written across it. In the backgrounds of each of the letters in Centerville are scenes from the community’s past and present. Featured within the various letters are the Tuffy Tornado mascot, our historic standpipe water tower, a scene of our downtown, our boulevard, a tractor in the field, our famous zebra donuts, historic Gunderson Park, and an American flag. Behind the greeting is a nice wide-open horizon with a summer sunset as the background. Stars gently starting to appear towards the top. This mural is easily relatable to Centerville and probably brings about many memories and happy feelings for lots of people with ties to the community.
Pick back up to 2021. The Centerville Development Corporation had been successful in receiving an additional grant for the Arts from the Bush Foundation. Within the grant we had proposed to use a portion of the funds as matching dollars towards another mural in our downtown. There was an additional grant opportunity through the South Dakota Arts Council called the Residency for Recovery Grant. This grant really seemed to fit within the concept of what a community based mural project was. We applied, and were awarded an additional $8,250 towards the project. And so, all of this together is what kickstarted the idea for our latest mural project. Now we just needed to identify who would be the right artist to carry out such an interactive project.
We knew we wanted this mural to be different this time around. We wanted to get the community more involved in the decision making and the painting itself. We thought about what it would be like fifteen years or so from now for a kid to be able to come back and say, “I helped paint that mural.” I remembered back to an artist I had met several years ago at a Dakota Resources conference. Her name was Amber Hansen and I knew she taught Art at the University of South Dakota. That day at the conference Amber was asked to lead a smaller version of the community-based mural process for a project on a canvas. Conference attendees were asked the overarching question, “What does a thriving rural look like to you?” Throughout the day during the conference people would stop and provide their input for what should go on the mural. Many brave souls even lent a hand painting on the canvas to help create a collaborative finished product. The end result was a fantastic looking collective piece of art that represented rural South Dakota in a very special way.
Amber Hansen stood out as the go to person in this region to lead our community-based mural project. Being just down the road in Vermillion was appealing too. I was able to track down Amber through the USD website. I learned that she had done several other projects like this all over the United States. After talking with a few other communities and organizations that had utilized Amber’s services for mural projects she was our choice.
Prior to starting we met with Amber to discuss the details of the proposed project and to look at a couple different wall locations in Centerville where the mural might be able to go. Although a few suitable locations were identified, Amber kept coming back to the south wall of the Mushy’s Bowling Alley. The wall is over twenty feet tall and one hundred twenty feet long. Amber really appreciated the size and scale the mural would end up being on this wall and the impact it would have visually. Thankfully the Limoges family, the owners of the bowling alley, were on board with the idea.
To start things off, Amber first did an assembly at our local K-12 school. We opened the assembly up to both the school kids and community members to attend and find out what the project was about and how they could get more involved. Amber encouraged the crowd to ask themselves, what is maybe missing from the other murals that were done prior that could maybe be included in this new mural?
We held several other different community meetings to invite the public to give ideas. The group leading the charge on the project also put informational articles in the paper and opened up applications for paid positions that would include two apprentices and two assistant muralists. Because the wall and mural were going to be so large, Amber requested to bring on another lead muralist to assist as well. She selected Reyna Hernandez, another experienced muralist from Vermillion. As an artist, Reyna is known for her use of vibrant colors and for exploring her indigenous bloodlines in her murals. The beauty of her Lakota heritage is often apparent in her work. Although there are few documented stories of Native American activity directly in Centerville, we know they were certainly on these Plains and in this area prior to the town’s establishment. Her use symbolism and color made her an exciting addition to the project.
Other local assistants and artists were eventually chosen to assist with the mural. Locally, Jon Marohl of Centerville was hired as an assistant muralist. Reyna Hernandez’s sister Sonia Hernandez had also submitted an application and was hired. Two other local mural apprentices were also hired. They were Macey Hostetler and Brady Muller who both attend school in Centerville. Together, this team of artists would make up the core group and do a majority of the work on the design concepts and painting of the mural.
Before getting started there was some prep work that needed to be done. The bowling alley wall was a bit rough to begin with. It needed a good amount of work before the base coat of primer could even go on. Plus, the wall was actually made up of a couple different buildings that were built at separate times before eventually being combined into one. The various textures along the buildings wall presented its own set of challenges for painting the mural. We were able to get a lot of good help for the prep and priming. Community volunteers were crucial throughout the entire mural process.
As I mentioned, this mural process was going to be different than the previous ones. It is much more than just hiring or commissioning an artist to paint what we thought best represents Centerville. Amber’s community-based mural process consisted of a lot of research, conversations and engaging the community. The challenge that obviously presents is you get a lot of ideas and a lot of opinions on what it should be. How do you begin to incorporate everything? You just can’t. You have to start to narrow it down. And in the end, those that were able to show up and be involved throughout the process were the ones that ultimately got to decide what went into the mural. The truth is, even as the facilitator of this project, I had to remind myself of all of that from time to time. My opinion wasn’t the only one that mattered. This was a group effort. I had to let go of what I believed the mural should be and trust the process and let it play out.
As the mural started to take shape, it was pretty well known that some of the community struggled a bit with the design and had some trouble seeing how it related to Centerville. Early on, I myself questioned some of it. I think with the previous murals in our downtown we became used to them being very literal relatable depictions of Centerville. Safe, and easy to understand. But something I also came to understand in this process is that often the best art isn’t literal and isn’t safe. It can be open to interpretation and make the viewer think. I came to realize that if you dive deeper into some of the symbolisms and images it becomes easy to see this murals connection to Centerville.
Here is my interpretation, and why I believe that this latest mural is truly a magnificent gift to our community and represents Centerville’s past, present and future very well. The Deer in the moonlight represents Centerville’s connection to nature and the Vermillion River. Many deer follow the winding turns of the Vermillion in and around Centerville. Our small rural community is surrounded by wildlife and wonderful nature areas. There is a deer crossing along almost every road into town. It also probably appeals to the many deer hunters we have in our area. The entrance to our historic Gunderson Park is shown in the background. This is also a nod to the history of this beautiful nature area that Centerville has and that so many have fond memories of.
In the center of the mural is a woman holding a round ball with a star quilt pattern on it. The ball is representative of Centerville’s passion for all the different types of sports we play with a ball. It could be a basketball, a volleyball or, as it is painted on the side of the bowling alley, a bowling ball. There are bowling lanes in the distance behind her to signify the bowling alley and Centerville’s rich history with the sport of bowling. The star quilt pattern represents a few different things. In the Lakota Sioux Nation, the eight-point star is one of the highest honors you can receive. It is a sign of honor and respect. It is intended to bring good dreams, prosperity and protection. The pattern itself is spiraling and twisting to also represent the motions of a tornado. The quilt pattern itself is also meant to represent community and community building. If you were to take out the individual diamond pieces of the quilt, standing alone they make nothing of significance. But by putting the individual pieces together it makes something harmonious, strong and beautiful.
The right side of the mural shows a depiction of the old WPA bridge that used to be at the northwest entrance of town near Gunderson Park. That bridge has since been replaced but this shows another connection to our history. Some still remember the globe lights along the bridge that lit the way into town. The bridge itself has symbolism as a gateway into town. It again stretches over the Vermillion River and showcases the towns deep connection to the river. On the banks for the river is a fisherman with a fishing pole. So many have fond memories of going down to the river to fish. Marching across the bridge is the depiction of a marching band. This is to celebrate Centerville’s great success over the years with marching band and marching band competitions we have won.
In the background of the bridge is a ball diamond. This is meant to displaying Centerville’s deep connection to baseball and softball over the years. So many remember playing ball in Centerville. Off further in the distance is a farmer’s field with a crop popping up. A subtle nod to our farming families that play such a vital role and are an intricate part of our community.
And on the far-right end of the mural, the young lamp lighter is depicted. If you look closely many are able to make out that the model for this individual depicted is none other than Centerville’s own homecoming queen from 2022, Macey Hostetler. The story of the lamp being lit to light the way to Centerville dates back to the late 1800’s. The story can actually be found in Centerville’s blue Centennial history book. The article states that Dr. Frederick Smith, one of the first settlers in this area, had a store at the original site of old Centerville. It was known that Dr. Smith hung a lantern each night so that his home and establishment could be found in the dark and always light the way for travelers. He never turned anyone away. The young lady now holding the lantern in the mural depicts the next generation of young people lighting the way for Centerville and all newcomers to the community.
Admittedly to readers of this article, all of this might have felt like a long, drawn-out explanation for what Centerville’s latest mural project was and what it is intended to represent. But again, I felt the story was worth telling. I hope it helps draws some residents of Centerville that were on the fence about it a little closer to it. I hope that the community finds value in it and that most have some sort of appreciation for it. At the very least it is an impressive, beautiful piece of art in the heart of our downtown. And I hope that other communities can be inspired by it as well. I hope it stands as an example of what can be accomplished, with a little vision and collaboration.