By Kim McDarison
Work has been underway on a second downtown mural painted by local artist Larry Schultz for about a month, according to Fort Atkinson Beatification Council President Jude Hartwick.
An anticipated completion date for the project, weather permitting, he said, is the end of this month.
Thus far, Hartwick said, panels depicting the sky, which he described as the “upper three panels” of the full work, are nearing completion. The focus on those panels is mainly clouds, he noted, with the potential for a duck or goose. A tree near the project, which is meant to stay, obscures a portion of the panels, he said, adding that the artist will add detail where needed to enhance the design for up-close viewing.
The full mural will depict local history.
Plans for the creation of the second downtown mural began in the spring of 2022, when the city’s beautification council brought the idea to the Fort Atkinson City Council for review.
During the meeting, Hartwick told those in attendance that the beautification council had selected Schultz, the artist who produced the first public mural commissioned and facilitated by the beautification council on the city’s water utility building, 37 North Water St., to create a second public mural to be placed on the the riverfront facade of the city’s downtown water reservoir building. The two buildings are located adjacent to one another.
The first mural, also depicting local history, was dedicated to the city in the fall of 2019.
Schultz’s work can be found at other locations within the city, including the National Dairy Shrine at the Hoard Museum, where his painting, titled: “The Seven Wonders of Wisconsin,” is on display. The work was created as a commemorative piece for Wisconsin’s first All-Dairy Breeds convention held in Oconomowoc in 2000, and features the seven breeds used within the dairy industry.
Schultz also is the creator of two Christmas edition covers of the Fort Atkinson-based Hoard’s Dairyman magazine. The works were published in 2016 and 2020.
More recently, Schultz is the artist who painted the various bovine statues used in the city’s Cow Parade, which also features the breeds used within the dairy industry.
Also during the 2022 city council meeting, City Manager Rebecca LeMire noted that the city had put in place zoning code requiring that any changes made to buildings within the city’s downtown mixed use historical district must undergo a special area design review made by the city’s Plan Commission.
Additionally, during the 2022 council meeting, discussion addressed concerns about paint primers that might be used for the proposed mural, with Hartwick stating that a tan primer would cover the building’s white exterior where the mural was intended to go.
Hartwick said that he had inspected the condition of the city’s water reservoir building and noticed a significant amount of peeling paint, further describing the paint’s condition as “fragile.”
He noted that the primer used underneath the first mural and proposed for the second one was used across Europe and especially Germany, further noting that in 2022, the first mural was in good condition.
An estimated cost of the project was $18,000, with those monies coming through the beautification council and achieved through grants and fundraising activities.
Also in 2022, the project came before the city’s Plan Commission, at which time it was granted the required special design consideration with some conditions, including that a paint primer would be put in place by the end of 2023, and the beautification council would work with the city to supply longterm maintenance of the mural.
During the Plan Commission meeting, Hartwick described the full project as having a top three-panel section of sky scenes, and a lower three-panel section depicting the Rock River and various historical buildings.
More recently, in a followup interview, Hartwick said that after the artist has finished painting the newest mural, a sign will be placed, which, he said, may come sometime after the end of this month. A cost for the sign is still being determined, and more fundraising may be required.
Plans call for the sign to offer QR codes redirecting viewers to the Hoard Historical Museum for information about the city’s landmarks and its broader history.
Hartwick said that while there had earlier been some concern about primer adherence to the city’s water reservoir building, they were overcome through the use of a silica-based paint that directly affixed to cement. The product was applied to the building’s exterior and allowed to cure for a year. The product “stuck and is sticking,” Hartwick noted, adding that the artist is mindful about how paint is applied when the wall is sweating.
“The building holds water at 45-50 degrees and will sweat when it gets hot on the outside,” Hartwick said, adding that so far, work on the project has gone smoothly.
Addressing funding, Hartwick said: “We are fortunate that we live in the city of Fort Atkinson. Our community supports the arts and making Fort Atkinson more beautiful. We’ve had lots of donors, but our biggest has been the Fort Atkinson Community Foundation. They’re awesome and very supportive. No public or city funds have been used, except for a small hose which we borrowed to rinse our brushes and buckets,” which, he said, was allegedly stolen, “so I brought one of mine from home. The city, especially the Water Department, has been very supportive in allowing us to do the project, but we know the city budget is tight, so we fundraised and acquired the money that way.”
Updating costs, Hartwick noted that the full project, including the sign, is anticipated to come in at around $19,500, with $15,000 of those funds used to pay the artist. Another $2,000 was spent on paint, brushes and other painting supplies.
The project is further aided by volunteers, Hartwick said, citing at least five individuals who arrive at the site to help the artist move ladders, run errands, and essentially make it easier for him to paint. They also helped with placing primer and blocking out large color tracts.
Both downtown murals depict Fort Atkinson’s historical buildings and general history, Harwick said, noting that the newest mural will include renditions of Native American effigy mounds and intaglios in the western panel, with designs based on the Hoard Historical Museum’s Native American exhibit, along with other features that do now or once stood within the city, including the original Fireside teepee structure, with some embellishments, and the holiday trees that once stood at Bicentennial Park.
Additionally, he said, The Loeb-Lorman building, the city’s original library, before the newer additions, St. Paul’s Church, The Caswell House, which once stood where Walgreens is today, Northwestern Manufacturing, which once operated where Festival Foods shopping mall is today, and a couple of Jones Dairy Farm buildings, are included within the panels.
Depictions of people also will be included, he said, placed to bring perspective and not in the images of any particular community figures.
An earlier story, including an artist’s rendition of the three panels that are being painted on the city’s water reservoir building, is here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/beautification-council-proposes-second-downtown-fort-mural/.
What’s next?
Even as the mural is underway, Hartwick said the beautification council’s next projects are in the “visioning” stages, and include beautifying the entrance into the city near the U.S. 12/26 bypass, and placing bike racks in various places around the city.
Describing the the area around the 12/26 bypass, he said: “The triangles are just grasses and scrub trees. We would like to plant trees that are colorful and various heights to make our entrance/exits to the city more interesting and beautiful.”
Hartwick said the beautification council is seeking approval from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to place the plants, after which fundraising efforts will begin. Further, he said, plans to create and install bike racks are being made in tandem with Madison College.
Bike racks would have themes, he said, offering as an example that a rack placed near the library might look like a book shelf, or one placed near the Farmers Market might resemble an assortment of plants.
Milton-based artist Larry Schultz works on the second of two Fort Atkinson downtown murals, both of which depict the community’s history. The second mural, like the first, which was dedicated to the city in 2019, is commissioned and facilitated through the Fort Atkinson Beautification Council which fundraised monies to pay for both projects. The second mural, found on the city’s reservoir building, is anticipated to complete by the end of this month. Contributed photo.
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