As Felix Maldonado began work Saturday on a giant mural on the Smith Ready Mix building on Brown Street, several Duneland Plein Air artists were painting pictures of him.
Maldonado’s design will take about three weeks to complete, he estimated. It features an octopus coming out of his element, a giant vase of water, to help feed hummingbirds. “Each One Teach One,” the mural is called.
“I’m very much into nature and animals,” Maldonado, of East Chicago, said during a break from his work as part of the Valparaiso Creative Council’s annual Mural Walk.
Last year, Maldonado painted hummingbirds behind Rocket Fizz.
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Smith Ready Mix officials met with him to discuss a design, suggesting perhaps a rocket ship or crayon on the silo, but neither design seemed fitting, Maldonado said.
“Funny thing, that night I caught a show on Discovery about octupuses,” he said, and the inspiration hit.
The mural is as if the octopus crawled out of the large vase filled with water and flowers and is helping to feed the birds. “We have to take care of each other,” Maldonado said.
Maldonado has been doing murals since 1986, he said, and is a member of the Crazy Indiana Style Artists group, recognized as the state’s oldest artists collective and now celebrating its 40th anniversary.
Among his many murals are the Jackson 5 mural on Broadway in Gary and a Michigan City mural near the armory.
Katie Lukes, of Chicago, is doing two murals this year for the Valparaiso Creative Council. The longest mural the VCC has ever commissioned will be 120 feet long on the side of the Valpo Chamber building. That has to wait until next month, however, for the surface of the wall to be ready for the mural to be painted.
So on Saturday, Lukes painted panels to be hung next year at Front Porch Music. “I went with songbirds as a cheeky nod to the music venue,” she said.
“We kind of put this together at the last minute,” she said, adding a fourth mural to the mix when the VCC realized the Valpo Chamber wall wouldn’t be ready in time for Saturday’s festival. Front Porch Music was on the list for next year.
“I’ve been drawing since I was a kid,” Lukes said “I’m an only child, so I would be bored a lot, so they just gave me paper and pencil.”
She’s been working eight years as a professional artist. CTA riders might recognize one of her murals near the Brown Line’s Western station.
The Valpo Chamber design features some abstract designs along with icons evocative of Valparaiso, including Orville Redenbacher, the photogenic pedestrian bridge at Rogers Lakewood Park, ice cream and more.
As Lukes worked, plein air painter DeBorah Stipanovich, of Chesterton, painted Lukes and the disc jockey nearby.
“I’ve painted since I was born,” Stipanovich said.
Many plein air painters prefer oils, but she uses acrylic paint. “It’s fast. You have to work with it fast,” she said.
VCC board member and volunteer Kathy Beymer said stars being created Saturday would be digitized and incorporated into the design of benches made of wind turbine blades to be placed at Kirchhoff Park.
While Lukes and Stipanovich painted, David and Jonathan Schmidt, of Valparaiso, tried their hand at no-mess finger painting using zippered plastic bags. Jonathan was creating fireworks designs, he said.
Annie Terrell, the artist leading the children in the activity, is a former first grade teacher.
Kids get to play without getting messy when the paints are inside a zippered plastic bag, she said. “It’s a great way to see how colors mix,’ she said, and an opportunity to talk to kids about art.
“I think art saves lives,” she said.
Inside the Valpo Creates Center, Duneland Potter owner David Arreola and his daughter Gabbi Arreola, of Crown Point, let kids and adults try their hand at clay. “They make whatever their imagination comes up with,” Gabbi said. She teaches teen classes at the VCC while her father does beginner and advanced classes.
Megan Marolf, of Valparaiso, used a lace doily and a rolling pin to create a fancy design on a bowl she was creating while sons Owen and Hugo tried other techniques to manipulate the clay.
Outside, artist Cassi Graber, of South Bend, offered everyone a chance to contribute to a mural that will be hung at Central Park Plaza. That mural begins with an abstract multicolored background and will incorporate some unusual designs on that base.
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The artists will use a toothbrush, a giant comb and bubble wrap to add texture to the design, she said.
VCC Executive Director Jessica Corral said she was pleased with the turnout for the event.
“I think that this year, we added some really good interesting layers. The Duneland Plein Air artists added a nice layer,” she said. “It was really fun to meet them, watch their different styles take shape.”
“Next year is something that we’ll already have to have on our scope,” she said. The nonprofit raises 80% of the cost of each mural, up to $10,000. Bigger murals, like the one Maldonado is doing at Smith Ready Mix, costs more, so the company is paying the extra cost.
Businesses and organizations interested in commissioning a mural either inside or outside at their site should contact the VCC soon. In March or April, Corral’s board will finalize the venues she said.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.