The City of Shelbyville unveiled a new mural Thursday morning in Morrison Park.
The America Connects Nature’s Gift National Mural is 12 feet by 24 feet and is mounted on the east wall of the Girls Inc. of Shelbyville/Shelby County building, 904 S. Miller St., that overlooks the 117-year-old city park.
The mural consists of individually painted tiles from communities across the country. Of the total number of tiles, 50 were created locally by young girls that are members of Girls Inc.
Members of Girls Inc. of Shelbyville/Shelby County inspect the individual tiles that make up a larger art piece now installed on the Girls Inc. building.
“The really fun part is 50 of our girls got to be involved. We had 50 girls represented on this art piece with individual tiles,” said Girls Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Amy Dillon. “One girl even wrote Shelbyville on it, which is cool. What they did, they put individual tiles together to make this art piece.
“It is beautiful to look at from afar, but when you go up, you can see the individual tiles and the individual artist’s expertise. And you can find ones with Shelbyville, Indiana written on them and they were done by our Girls Inc. girls.”
Dillon was contacted by Jenna Martin, City of Shelbyville Director of Public Relations, about a grant that had been applied for. She believed Morrison Park was right place for its installation.
Dillon was then charged with producing 50 tiles to represent the local community.
“It was not as easy as you think. Our particular tiles are the orange, yellow and brown themed tiles,” explained Dillon. “They came with pretty explicit instructions. For example, they would say on this tile your artist can only use 25% of brown coverage. As you are thinking of your design and the color scheme, but then you are having to regulate only 25% of the whole tile can be covered with brown. That can be challenging with an 8-year-old.
“The staff did an amazing job understanding that and directing them. All the pieces our girls did were approved and incorporated into the design. It was a major undertaking to make sure individually everything was compliant to those specifications and they did a great job with them.”
The project was supported through community partnerships and grant funding, including a $2,500 grant from the Blue River Community Foundation.
The installation on the Girls Inc. building was completed by Maulden Signs of Shelbyville.
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