More Art Coming to Downtown Washington

A new mural will be going up in downtown Washington this summer. The Indiana Destination Development Corporation has announced Washington is one of 38 communities receiving grants for Indiana Public Art Activation and Indiana Placemaking projects. The grant was awarded to Discover Downtown Washington.

“This is a non-matching grant of up to $10,000 to fund public art projects,” said Amber Warden with Discover Downtown Washington. “We have partnered with Purdue Extension on this. Cindy Barber with Purdue and Dusty Davis (president of Discover Downtown Washington) worked very hard on this and were able to secure an artist from Indianapolis,Barb Stahl, to work on this. She has done many of these projects including one in Loogootee so we are familiar with her work.”

The mural will be going on the east wall of the old W.F. McDougal building in the 100 block of East Main Street.

“They have not sent us the letter with the award, but they have announced the awardees,” said Warden. “We still are not certain if we will receive the full $10,000 grant.”

Warden describes the project as part art and part message for visitors to downtown Washington.

“We are very excited to see Barb complete her work and do the painting that has been drafted up for us,” said Warden. “It looks really good. It has the phrase ‘Greetings from Washington’ and it will include the IN Indiana logo.”

The mural will have the appearance of a banner with a stylized script of Washington. Inside the letters will be familiar sites in the community like the courthouse, the old rail shops and Our Lady of Hope Church.

The project is expected to start this summer and be done before fall.

“We hope to get it started around May or June and it should take about a month to complete. Things may have been moved around because I know she (Stahl) takes on a lot of big projects,” said Warden. “Her timing on this project may have changed a little bit.”

In all, the state is putting up $414,000 for the grants in 26 counties.

“It is wonderful to see each corner of the Hoosier state driven and motivated to create spaces and works of art that will help tell Indiana’s story,” said Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Indiana’s Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development. “As each individual project is completed, Indiana’s character and culture will be put on display for Hoosiers and visitors to appreciate.”

This will be the second mural the state has funded in downtown Washington. Last year a new mural was painted on the outside of Touch of Heaven.