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May 9—GREENSBURG — The "Love Grows Here" mural painted on the west side of the Medicab building at 312 W. Main Street will soon be getting some tender loving care from its original artist.
From May 17 to 22, Wisconsin artist Zane Statz is visiting Greensburg to address the fading, cracked and chipped surface of the iconic mural, updating the colors and applying a coat of preservative to insure its health for years to come.
Visit Greensburg is sponsoring Statz's trip and the work is expected to take five days.
Statz is a 31-year-old graphic designer, painter and mural artist who graduated from St. Norbert College in 2014 with a BA in Graphic Design and a minor in Business Administration.
He has worked with clients throughout the United States ranging from musical artists to sports athletes, private collections and large corporations.
Notably, Zane has done a lot of Green Bay Packer themed projects and has been referred to as the "Unofficial Artist for the Green Bay Packers" by the Green Bay Press Gazette.
As the third and final mural installation of the #DistinctivePlace project, "Love Grows Here" was cosponsored by Main Street Greensburg and the Art and Cultural Council.
The #DistinctivePlace project started at the beginning of 2017 with a 45-day crowdfunding period through Patronicity, a platform that brings together local citizens and sponsors to support initiatives in their communities.
The goal was to raise $32,500. A grant from the Decatur County Community Foundation, to start the fundraising, helped propel the project to success.
The first two murals, the butterfly wings on the northern face of the Watson Chiropractic building and the yellow car with flowers on the south end of the old Daily News building, were both finished in 2017 and have given visitors to Greensburg great photo-ops.
Murals of this kind are frequently painted on a much more stable surface than the brick faces of the buildings they adorn. This insures that, through the passing of time and the ever-changing opinions of the public, the mural can be removed if need be.
This approach also allows the artist ample time to create and facilitates a brief and efficient installation.
"From a marketing perspective, this (having the mural restored) is a good thing," said Director of Marketing for Visit Greensburg (Tourism) Erica Gunn. "Because if you Google Greensburg, that's one of the first pictures that come up."
Contact Bill Rethlake at 812-651-0876 or email bill.rethlake@greensburgdailynews.com
