Fort Beautification Council proposes second downtown mural

By Kim McDarison

Members of the Fort Atkinson City Council Thursday received a presentation given by Fort Atkinson Beautification Council President Jude Hartwick, outlining the group’s proposal for a second downtown public art mural. 

During the city council’s regularly scheduled meeting, held Thursday to allow city staff an opportunity to focus on Tuesday’s election, Hartwick told those in attendance that the beautification council had selected local artist Larry Schultz, the artist who produced the public mural on the city’s water utility building, 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. 

According to Hartwick, the artist was selected to bring continuity to the two murals, which will use a similar style and continue to embrace a local history theme. 

On Thursday, Hartwick presented city officials with proposed renditions of artwork, prepared within several panels, for placement on the reservoir building. 

Before Hartwick delivered his presentation, Fort Atkinson City Council President Chris Scherer clarified that the information was being shared as a presentation only, and that the beautification council was not asking for permission to begin any portion of the project. 

Hartwick confirmed that the clarification was correct. 

Hartwick said he had come before council to inform council members about discussions and objectives that had been identified to date. 

Scherer said he appreciated Hartwick’s desire to update the council, but, he said, “I think we still have to do our due diligence.” 

He cited the city’s Plan Commission as among decision-making bodies whose input and approval would be required for the project to move forward.  

City Manager Rebecca Houseman LeMire further explained the process, saying that the city has put in place zoning code requiring that any changes made to buildings within the city’s downtown mixed use historic district must undergo a special area design review made by the city’s Plan Commission. 

“This project would change the facade of the building in that zoning district, so we would have to go to the Plan Commission. However, I feel it is appropriate, because the city does own the building, that at a future meeting, … council would authorize the application basically, so the city council would be authorizing the application for this special area design and review to the Plan Commission, and then the Plan Commission would take action on that. Tonight is just the initial presentation, and then … the council can discuss it and, at a future meeting, potentially approve that application,” LeMire said.  

As part of his presentation, Hartwick said that he had been in discussions with LeMire, and city department heads, including Fort Atkinson Water Utility Supervisor Tim Hayden and City Engineer Andy Selle. 

He said an objective of those conversations was to make sure paint proposed to prime the building’s facade worked properly and city officials felt confident about the full mural process. 

While the water reservoir building is painted white, Hartwick said, plans call for a new coat of primer to be placed over the white paint. The new primer, he said, would be a tan color. 

Hartwick talked about the advantages of painting murals on downtown buildings. 

“As you cross the river, coming north, you’ll see the other mural that’s there. And this mural is continuing from that same theme. It’s a Fort Atkinson historical theme. And eventually, if it all works out, there will be references around the city and at the museum so that people can hit their QR code and then find tourist spots,” Hartwick said. 

He described the aesthetic effect of the first mural’s bright colors, saying: “I remember coming over the (Main Street) bridge in February; you see that brilliant green and that brilliant blue, and it is just such a nice change when it’s gloomy and gray out, and snow on the ground, that you actually get some color and some brightness, (to) remind you of summer and the great days.”   

The mural on the city’s water utility building was dedicated to the city in the fall of 2019. The project was commissioned by and facilitated through the beautification council. 

Looking at the condition of the water reservoir building, Hartwick said: “If you’ve been over there … you’ll notice that it’s peeling, and peeling quite extensively. And it’s a wonderful white paint that was painted on there. … So one of the issues that we had is that when we were going to paint it, we were first thinking that we had to put a new substance on it and paint that and then put it (the mural) on, but we didn’t want to damage the property. That was one of the conditions.” 

Hartwick described the condition of the old paint on the building as “fragile.”  

Councilman Bruce Johnson asked if the proposed primer was the same as that used under the first mural. 

Hartwick said it was, adding that before the first mural was painted, an abrasion test was performed on the primer. 

As part of that process, Hartwick said: “We scraped (the building) by hand, and then washed it and cleaned it, and then painted at the top, and then waited a little bit and did the abrasion test. This year, we are going to wait a whole year to do the abrasion test, and the reason is because of the temperature change of the tank; because water comes in at a nice, cool 45 (degrees) and in the summer months, it gets up to 100 (degrees outside), and beats on that building. And so there’s a lot of condensation on the outside, and so we want to make sure that this actually works.” 

He cited the primer used under the first mural and proposed for the second as one used across Europe and especially in Germany.  

“It’s the same paint that’s also on the Black Hawk Hotel. It’s something that adheres to the brick and into the substrate itself,” Hartwick said.  

Johnson asked about overall mural durability. 

Hartwick said he had recently inspected the first mural and was pleased with its condition. 

“It’s clean, for the most part; It probably has a little ash on it from the soot that falls everywhere, but otherwise, it is very clean and I have not seen any peeling,” Hartwick said.  

Would the project receive city council approval, according to information supplied in the council packet, the beautification council will fund the project. Through fundraising activities and a grant application submitted to the Fort Atkinson Community Foundation, the organization plans to earn some $18,000 by July, 2023, with painting activities to begin in the fall of that year or the spring of 2024. 

An earlier story about the first mural, and its artist, is here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/milton-artist-fort-mural/.