Magnolia Studio | Portfolio Wolf River Art League Start Art Mural Project Booklet 2019-2022

During the COVID-19 shutdown artists from the Wolf River Art League joined together with local businesses, the New London Area Chamber of Commerce, and various community members joined together to launch the Start Art Mural Project which produced 70 murals throughout this small northeastern Wisconsin town.

This massive project was not only a beautiful artistic accomplishment, but the facelift it provided for the town's businesses has captivated the interest of tourists from across the country to see the murals in person. The influx of new people is benefitting both the local artists and the town's economy.

I was so impressed by the way the community was galvanized by this vision that I joined the Art League in July 2022. I soon volunteered to design a booklet that featured photos of the artists with their work, descriptions, locations and maps to locate the murals, past history of the Art League, and their future projects. [ … Read More ]

My first task was to sort through, organize, and choose the best images of the murals with the artists from nearly 1,000 photos. This initial sorting process was my opportunity to get acquainted with each mural. The artists provided descriptions of their inspirations and their challenges during the creation of their art.

The Art League president, Lori Jo Schneider, wrote the text throughout, including: introduction, history of the project and fundraising, the painting process, history of the Art League, and future projects. I copyedited and proofread all of the text content including image captions. Eighty-four-year-old Ginny Pharr, another Art League member, was enlisted to provide green and blue watercolor images as backgrounds for every other page.

The most challenging technical feature for me was to produce the four detailed maps that provided a guide to navigate the town and locate the murals. QR Codes linked to Google Maps were included for GPS navigation.

My personal challenge was trying to decide which of the 50 pages to display here on my web site. Generally I choose samples that show different page layouts and design concepts which feature the broad range of my skills rather than highlighting the content of those pages.

This 5.5"x8.5", 50 page, saddle-stitched booklet was offered for a $1.00 suggested donation at the 2023 Wolf River Art League's Art Show to offset the printing costs. The New London Area Chamber of Commerce also granted the Art League a donation to cover the remaining costs.
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