Mural Provides Change of Scenery on Wheeling Heritage Trail | News, Sports, Jobs

A large mural, depicting three different wildlife scenes, has been painted on the back wall of a building located 1 23rd St.

It is situated facing the Ohio River and is right beside Heritage Trail, making it easy for trail walkers and riders to see and enjoy. Turn at Wheeling Spring Service on Main Street to reach the closest trail entrance near the mural building.

The project was initiated by the Wheeling Arts & Culture Commission and Wheeling Heritage Area Corp. The paintings illustrate the types of wildlife that can be found while in and around the river by people using the trail.

The artists commissioned to do the work include Adam Brouillette, Isabel Bongue and Oriana Hirschberg. While each scene is different all three use the same color palette with blue being the dominant hue.

One portion of the mural depicts wild racoons that are whimsical in nature. Another depicts blue herons or cranes and the third features a variety of animals including birds, fish, snakes, salamanders and otters.

Betsy Sweeny, a historic preservationist with Wheeling Heritage Area Corp., on Thursday said the arts commission is looking for more buildings to use for murals.

“The commission is always interested in new opportunities to place public art,” she said. “If you are a building owner with a space that is in good condition, is highly visible, and accessible we would love to work together to put public art on it.”

Sweeny said the commission decided a year ago after meetings that it wanted to do a “high-impact, public art project.” The building used for this first project is one that Sweeny walks her dog by on a frequent basis, she said.

“Finally, I called the owner and asked if they’d be interested in working with the arts commission on a mural, and they said they’d love to,” she said.

Sweeny said the arts commission has set aside money for such public works of art. They sought bids for this mural in September 2021. More than 20 qualified proposals came in from artists wanting to do it. After scoring the submissions, the commission chose three artists, all of whom live in Ohio. The work took place in late October 2021.

“The arts commission has budgeted for several murals to be placed in different neighborhoods. The biggest challenge is finding sites that have good visibility and property owners interested in working with us,” she said.

While the mural is a project of the Wheeling Arts and Cultural Commission, an additional grant was provided by Wheeling Heritage.

“At the time, the commission had several thousand set aside for the project, with the intention to do three panels, but not all the way to the roofline, and without the additional paint on the far edges of the murals,” Sweeny said of the original scope of the project.

“The artists came together and said, hey, we’d really like to paint this whole building, and so the arts commission applied for an additional $1,000 grant from Wheeling Heritage to really take the project over the top.”

She noted Bridgeport Equipment donated the manlift used by the artists, and Lowe’s donated the paint they used.

“Local artist Logan Schmitt was instrumental in the process. He helped acclimate the artists to Wheeling and was readily available to help with logistics, offer his professional opinion, and assist in design,” she added.

The artists, she noted, all come from the Cleveland and Athens, Ohio, areas.