Native Plant Mural Coming to Viroqua
Native Plant Mural Coming to Viroqua
About the Project
Three women artists are working together to create a beautiful mural in Viroqua, WI, that illustrates and honors the area’s native plants and peoples. They aim to transform a busy street-corner setting into a lush, botanical oasis that inspires conversation, connection, creativity, and community pride.
The mural will be located on the outside patio wall at 117 North Main Street (home to Maybe Lately's).
This campaign directly supports the livelihoods of three local artists and benefits the Viroqua community by adding beauty and meaning to a prominent location in the town, thereby attracting visitors and boosting our economy.
Building owners Beth Summers and Frank Spilker have generously donated their wall as a pallet and are covering the cost of supplies.
About the Mural
The mural will feature bold floral designs of several native species connected to the history of the land that Viroqua sits upon and the people who historically lived here.
Milkweed, coneflower, ferns, and monarch butterflies will be prominent in the design. All of these species continue to play an important role by creating beauty, habitat, and nourishment in the landscape around and within Viroqua.
Why these plants? Why monarchs?
Here in the Driftless we know about food. But we can’t get so focused on production that we forget about the pollinators who make our food systems possible. Monarchs—and their continued decline due to land clearing and pesticides—are a potent reminder that what we do to the land, we do to ourselves.
May we remember how to tend and walk this land with gentleness and intention. Because our lives truly depend upon it.
The tender unfurling of ferns in the spring! What could be a more lovely symbol of awakening and the sacred spiral of life? Not to mention, these plants are resilient and badass—surviving since 100 million years before dinosaurs.
They have much to teach us about thinking cyclically as opposed to linearly, about choosing what is renewable rather than what is extractive.
Who doesn’t love the beautiful and medicinal coneflower (echinacea)? Birds, insects, and humans have loved this flower for centuries. In our mural it serves as a symbol for our connection to each other—both the humans and other than humans.
Perhaps it even offers protective and immune-boosting energy to our vibrant town as we move forward into a kinder, brighter, and more cooperative future.
Progress: (as of 8/23/21)
Here we go!
You’ll start to see us outside priming the project space as we continue to finalize the details of our design—including choosing the colors! Stay tuned and feel free to stop by and watch or say hi (and enjoy a thirst-quenching juice from Maybe Lately’s!).
Be a Part of the Beauty!
Love the idea? Want to come alongside us to enliven our community? Yay! Because we can’t do it without you!
In Argentina, there is a saying: “en la gorra”, which literally means “in the hat.” A hat is passed around at the closure of a performance and those in attendance pay what they are able. They give what they can. Their money is a symbol of both their enjoyment and support of the arts. And if they don’t have money to give, that’s ok too. Because art should not be popular, it should be for the people. Art invigorates and nourishes our humanity.
We believe that art is for all. So we are asking you to pay what you can and let that be a symbol of your gratitude for the beauty you will soon enjoy. In this way, you too will be woven into the beauty of the mural and it within you.
We are trusting in the generosity of our community to support the time and talent of the local artists who are making the mural a reality. Our campaign goal will pay them a meaningful and fair wage.
Funds raised in excess of our goal will be donated toward a nonprofit organization supporting indigenous peoples and native lands.
And if you can’t make a financial donation, you can still help by widely sharing this page and video with your friends and family!
With gratitude,
Beth, Frank, Stella, Natalie, and Anna
The Artists:
Stella Greendeer is a Ho-Chunk artist who lives and works in her hometown of Viroqua, Wisconsin. She attended FIT in New York City and studied textile design. Her textile work includes painting, screen printing, and weaving, drawing inspiration primarily from the natural world and her native culture. Stella also has a passion for sustainability and sees art as a way to honor the sacred plants and beings of the land and community she grew up in.
Natalie Hinahara is a Wisconsin-born and raised painter, printmaker, muralist, and teacher living in Viroqua, WI. Her work is informed by the landscapes, ecosystems, and living beings of the Great Lakes and Driftless Regions of the Midwest. She is primarily a printmaker and painter but enjoys exploring the realms of textile, jewelry, and public art. In her prints and paintings, she marvels at the beauty and wisdom of plants, wonders what it means to be both a part of and apart from the natural word, and imagines what it would feel like to live in a society that respects and loves the plants, animals, and humans that nourish us every day.
Anna Kimm is a visual storyteller and mother living in Viroqua, Wisconsin. She has a BFA in fine art, with an emphasis in classical figure painting. She currently uses photography as a means through which to explore and relate to the world. She sees art as a way to tell the hidden stories that we often miss in our fast-paced modern lives.
Sneek Peeks:
Our pallett!
Botanical sketches from Anna Kimm.
"The border for the mural is inspired by Ho-Chunk geometric textile art featuring shapes that share characteristics of midwestern plant silhouettes in a balanced graphic form, typically created with ribbon or different colored cloth designed to be sewn onto regalia like handmade shirts and skirts." -Stella Greendeer
Initial sketch from Natalie Hinahara.
Collaborative Sketch!
*Big Thanks to Ryan Kimm for videography, Asha Myers for editing, and Joel Porter for music*
