Dowagiac community mural project kicks off
Published 8:00 am Tuesday, June 6, 2017
Cassopolis artist Ruth Andrews (left) and a group of volunteers, Madisyn Williams (center) and Cathy Daniels, work on transferring some of Andrews’ artwork to the site of the planned Orphan Train mural downtown Saturday. Work began on the project late last month, and is expected to continue through the summer. (Leader photo/TED YOAKUM)
Around a dozen people have signed up to help Andrews with painting an Orphan Train mural. Organizers plan to unveil the finished mural during Dowagiac’s Under the Harvest Moon Festival Oct. 7. (Leader photo/TED YOAKUM)
(Leader photo/TED YOAKUM)
(Leader photo/TED YOAKUM)
(Leader photo/TED YOAKUM)
It is not every day one can see a pair of artists, a fifth-grader and a judge working together on the same project.
People passing by the shiny white concrete wall beneath the Dowagiac post office on Pennsylvania Avenue downtown Saturday morning witnessed exactly that, however.
With black charcoal dust caked across their arms, hands and faces, Cassopolis artist Ruth Andrews and her team of volunteers — retired city employee and amateur watercolor painter Cathy Daniels and 11-year-old Kincheloe student Madisyn Williams — were hard at work that morning preparing the massive slab of concrete for the work of art that will soon blossom to life on the structure.
The trio spent the morning transferring artwork Andrews had finished months earlier, depicting the journey of the children who arrived in Dowagiac more than 160 years ago on the famed Orphan Train, to the wall. After dividing the wall into grids, Andrews and the volunteers placed sheets of paper, which contained perforated outlines of the artwork, on the wall, using charcoal dust to transfer the sketches to the wall before going over the outlines with crayon to solidify the drawings.
“It’s the same way Michelangelo did it,” Andrews said. “It’s very low tech.”
About an hour into their work, Cass County Circuit Court Judge Mark Herman strolled by, stopping to watch the group in action. It did not take long for him to get his hands dirty — literally — as he jumped in to help the others move around their scaffold and hold up the sheets of paper used to transfer the sketches to the wall.
Saturday was the perfect example of the vision that Andrews and others with the committee responsible for bringing the Orphan Train mural to Dowagiac had in mind when they came up with the idea last year.
After several months of planning and drawing, Andrews and the committee kicked off work on the mural late last month. After cleaning and preparing the wall, the artist and local volunteers began to transfer Andrews’ artwork to the wall, the final step before painting begins.
“It’s so much fun,” Andrews said, about reaching this step in the project. “At some point, a project like this takes on a life of its own, and I think we are at this point. It gives me goosebumps to see something that has been in your head for so long finally out there in real life.”
Andrews has worked with Dowagiac Area History Museum Director Steve Arseneau, Bobbie Jo Hartline with the City of Dowagiac and Marty Kazar to bring the painting into fruition. Andrews had worked with Kazar and Arseneau in 2009 to create a similar mural in her hometown, depicting the Kentucky Raid of 1847.
The Orphan Train mural project is funded through a nearly $15,000 grant from the Michigan Humanities Council. In addition to paying for the artwork, the grant will cover several activities the museum and city have lined up to commemorate the project and the history of Orphan Train, including a reunion for descendants of riders Sept. 23.
In the meantime, Andrews and a group of around a dozen volunteers will work to bring the actual artwork to life. Painting is expected to take place through summer, with the grand unveiling taking place during the Under the Harvest Moon Oct. 7.
Residents interested in volunteering to help may sign up by calling the museum at (269) 783-2560 or by visiting dowagiacmuseum.info/orphan-train. Volunteer shifts are currently scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesdays and Saturdays, though times may change based on the summer weather.
“It’s your community, it’s your mural, and you can add your own handiwork to it,” Hartline said.
