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Saturday morning a crowd of people gathered around at the corner of 6th and Newton Streets gazing at the finished mural as they heard from the German Club representatives on the purpose of the mural for the city of Jasper during the Strassenfest weekend.

Jasper German Club President, Mike Ackermann states that the mural is a project that started in the winter of 2015 with various ideas from members of the German Club to recapture the essence of Jasper and its history while at the same time introducing the cities innovative progress.

He adds that the economic value of investing on murals and historic preservation shows future generation that a place like Jasper is a grounded community as they evaluate whether they would like to live or set-up a business here. Ackerman continued by saying one of the steps towards the creation of the mural was contributed by Jasper German Club member, Judy Bennett, who put together a rough sketch of the concepts that were gathered from German Club members. Later on they searched for a mural artist. Ackerman adds that they found a wonderful artist, Michael Smith from Chandler.

20160806_120350Mural Artist, Michael Smith, and wife, Amanda, are owners and operators of Orange Moon Art Studio who work as a creative team.

Their work can be been seen at the Huntingburg Southridge Middle School. The German Club saw the Smiths name on the mural at Southridge and searched for them through the white pages arriving at their residence and proposed them with this project.

Michael Smith describes that he’s proud of this mural based upon the research he did to accomplish the project. He says from just observing the interaction of the Jasper community he comprehended the sense of pride the town holds with rich traditions. Smith explains one of the noticeable characteristics of the mural.

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Smith states that he found it important to incorporate the previous art styles that were displayed in the past murals. The Smith’s say that normally a mural project takes them 2 weeks and that they are inspired by the stories people approach them with as it becomes part of their creative process in being able to convey their patron’s message through art.

German Club member Dan Wehr also shares on the symbolic nature the mural has as a gateway to Jasper.

Wehr adds that he and the other club members are thankful for all the cooperation they receive from the Jasper community.20160806_113330

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