Lakeside Foods Mural

The 2020 Art Slam Public Mural Project, painted on the north wall of the Lakeside Foods building. The pandemic meant there was no public participation that year, so instead of a paint-by-number the mural featured the work of five diverse Manitowoc artists. Don Krumpos, David Carpenter, and Erin LaBonte were tasked with coalescing their images into a single design — respecting each artist’s work and Lakeside Foods’ wish for something not overtly political, while making one fluid, positive image of the diversity within the community. It was painted during the summer of the Black Lives Matter protests. The artists were asked to create works that celebrate their culture and portray a sense of unity; some emphasized activism, others the everyday life of grandparents, friends, or family.

Sonia Vasquez — half Mexican and half white, Vasquez grew up primarily within a white-dominated city. “I wanted to take the things that were significant to me connecting with Mexican culture.” The woman figure represents her grandmother as a young woman; the man is dedicated to her father, who migrated to the US with his mother at a young age. Roses are common in Mexican festivals, decor, and religious use; the prickly pear plant is a household staple for her family. Of her father: “He’s always been the embodiment of the hard working and passionate immigrant in America. The mountains and goats behind him represent where he lived, what he did in Mexico, and the laborious task it is to migrate and live successfully in the US.”

Tisha Hang — celebrating her Hmong ethnicity. “My parents are Hmong immigrants who came here when they were around 19 years old and had me and my 3 younger siblings all here in Manitowoc.” Her works include traditional Hmong attire — “Hmong people are well known for their sewing skills and they use it for making clothes and to record history and events with motifs and symbols” — and a farmer with a traditional basket, for the Hmong culture’s strong background in agriculture.

Bryana Thomas-Butler — an “Afro-Artist” who uses her art “as a voice that speaks on behalf of the Black community and shows the beauty within it.” Her contribution is a young Black girl jumping for joy, modeled after her sister, wearing a dashiki. “I wanted to showcase the emotion and beauty in the brown girl’s soul and show off how she is delicate and strong all in one.”

Kaye Solander — contributed a peace lily. “Peace lilies are associated with the rebirth of the soul and transcending beyond. Understanding various cultures and striving for unity are direct results of transcending beyond how we see the world.”

Brad Daugs — considers himself “American Primitive”; a registered member of the Oneida Tribe. His drawing of a turtle reflects that he is Turtle Clan. “My great great grandfather, Cornelius Hill, was the last hereditary Oneida chief, and its first Christian minister; the church he and his followers built still stands on the Oneida Reservation today.”

Major sponsorship came from the City of Manitowoc, with Lakeside Foods contributing financially and creatively. Thanks also to Jeremiah Novak of Novak’s Service Center (his fourth downtown mural), the Rahr-West Public Arts Committee, The Wharf and Dr. Bob Cornwell, the Art Slam major sponsors, and Hallman-Lindsay, who donated all the paint.