Library patrons now embraced by Wabasha’s history and natural world, thanks to three newly completed murals

A three-year mural project has been recently completed at the Wabasha Public Library, which includes three murals that honor the community’s past, present and future. The “Instilling a Sense of Place” project, began with the need to update the library’s walls. Then Library Director Bev Hall and Librarian Liesl Knox, secured several grants and donations, to make it something even more, a project designed to instill a sense of connection for library patrons to the community’s history and natural world.

“ The library is one of the holders of the community’s history and this project gave us the chance to fulfill that role in a fresh and dynamic way,” said Knox, who served as the project coordinator.

The library partnered with local artist Sue Mundy on the project.  She invested over 656 hours  plus many more in meetings.  She worked in collaboration with input from library staff, local historians, indigenous artist Jalayah Whitecloud, Dakota Educator Inkpa Mani, as well as the Wabasha County historical society, Wabasha Main Street, National Eagle Center, and Bird City Wabasha.

Mundy added her vision for the project, “My goal was to surround and embrace the viewers while inviting them to contemplate how nature supports civilization, mankind impacts nature, and to emphasize that connection. This place is a house of stories that tell this important truth in many different ways.”

The first mural honoring Wabasha’s Native American past took the most time and research to produce. Mundy scoured various written sources and consulted with several Native Americans trying to find out how to depict habitation when the Dakota lived in Wabasha. The second mural depicts Wabasha as a river town with unique downtown architecture. For this mural the Library and Mundy partnered with the Wabasha Historical Society, the Wabasha Heritage Preservation Commission and the Wabasha Main Street organization.

“ When I design a mural, I like to come up with three options,” said Mundy describing the collaborative process that occurred for each one. “ I thought the bridge as a centerpiece was important and dramatic. The inclusion of a steamboat references the Grand Excursion, which brought people to Wabasha in 1854 and is an important part of our history.”

The final mural was completed this year and depicts migratory birds common to Wabasha.

Mundy remained open to new ideas throughout the collaborative process. One important component for the library staff was to keep the same color scheme as the murals in the children’s portion, which provided a particular challenge to make different parts of the design standout while keeping with a more muted color palette. Mundy got creative and for the River Town and Bird Murals, the buildings and birds were painted and cut out of different types of material (canvas, poly-metal and vinyl) and then glued on the wall to create a 3-D like effect.

Educational events were held when each mural was completed and was another important component of the grant project. One of the unexpected highlights of the River Town Mural educational event was the spontaneous story telling about Wabasha. Over 80 people attended. The panelists and audience members were so excited to share their memories or stories their parents and grandparents had told them. One of the panelists, Dennis Carr, passed away shortly after the event and it was another reminder of the importance of sharing these stories.

Hall summarized the meaning of the project best, “ It wasn’t just about “putting something on the walls”, it was about sharing Wabasha’s history and natural world, it’s underlying uniqueness. Sue Mundy’s love and passion for Wabasha came through in her artwork.”