Artists' mural brings splash of color, emblem of community pride to Town Square in Grand Forks

Oct. 12—GRAND FORKS — A big colorful mural — a collage of well-known local images intermixed with bold "Grand Forks" lettering — adds a bright splash of community pride to Town Square in the city's downtown core, thanks to the collaborative efforts of three artists.

The mural presents the city's name in a 22-by-14-foot artwork on a sky-blue background, studded with references to places and institutions recognizable to many, if not all, area residents.

Each of the artists — Becca Cruger, Senta Grzadzielewski and Jamie Sebby, all of Grand Forks — is a professional artist who owns and operates her own art business.

For the mural, they chose to incorporate "the most iconic things" that represent this community, said Grzadzielewski.

Viewers will notice imagery that represents hockey, the Greenway, Widman's candy store, Empire Arts Center, the Red Pepper, the water tower's "smiley face," Sorlie Bridge, UND's old-time clock, Grand Forks Air Force Base and other features unique to Grand Forks.

A bulldog, the symbol of Bonzer's Sandwich Pub, stands guard at the Urban Stampede. Figures of people of diverse ethnic backgrounds are included, along with graduates, mortar boards in the air, and symbols of UND colleges, such as education, engineering, health sciences and others. A series of U.S. flags adorn a central area.

A billowy white cloud on the blue background accentuates the ND in "GRAND," perhaps as a wink to "North Dakota."

The mural "is a nod to our nostalgia, but it's also a nod to our future," said Cruger, noting the satellite figure and the Global Hawk imagery in the mural.

The colors in the mural are true to the official color palette of each organization represented — such as UND's green, orange, gray and pink; the city of Grand Forks' blue and green; the Air Force and DDA blues; and the Visit Grand Forks bureau's red, light green purple and yellow, Cruger said.

The artists — whose names appear in the lower right corner of the mural along with #townsquaremuralGF — estimate that from concept to completion, the project took months. Each of them has a full-time job and two of them are raising children.

Creating the mural proved to be "more challenging than any of us thought it would be," Cruger said. "Painting on brick versus painting on a flat surface definitely comes with its challenges."

The project was launched when the Downtown Development Association received the approval for the mural from the owners of the Old Town Building and proposed the project to UND.

The building's owners, representing Old Town Investments, "were part of the RFP process when we selected the artists up to the final design edits," said Jill Proctor, DDA staff member.

"Through conversations with the DDA, UND saw an opportunity to be a proud supporter of the Grand Forks community through this mural project," Meloney Linder, UND vice president of marketing and communications, said in an email to the Herald. "It is our hope that we continue to support opportunities like this to make Grand Forks a great place to study, live and work."

After DDA issued the request for proposals, or RFP, in partnership with UND, Cruger posted it on the Facebook page of a local arts group, "Artists Underground," she said. "Senta commented first, then I did, then Jamie, kind of joking about combining our strengths and teaming up."

After mulling it over for three days, Cruger sent a message saying, "Soooo we should do this," she recalled. "It was a matter of minutes before Senta and Jamie agreed, and we were off to work on designs together."

The DDA accepted their bid for $10,000, which included costs for supplies and materials, as well as artists' wages, Cruger said.

The project was entirely collaborative, the artists said. Grzadzielewski, who is expecting her fourth child, was limited for the most part, at the behest of her husband, to working on the lower portion of the mural — no getting up on ladders.

"We think she's the first pregnant muralist in Grand Forks," Cruger joked.

Working in their spare time, the artists devoted more than a couple hundred hours to the project altogether, they said.

"Each of us has a day job," said Sebby, "and Senta and I have kids."

They found time, however, to work on the mural.

"When you get three artists in a room, you know, artists have egos," Cruger said. But "we all worked so well together."

Grzadzielewski said, as they developed the design, "it was nice to get another artist's perspective."

Each brought their own skills and perspectives, Cruger said. "Jamie's specialty is lettering, Senta's is structures, and I'm a giant fan of color. ... It was smart to team up for a mural of this size."

To transfer the image from a computer screen to a 22-by-14-foot mural, the trio used a grid pattern to create a design in which one centimeter was equivalent to 12 inches. They then recreated the grid on the wall as a template for placement of the images.

And when it came to painting it, they did not assign a section to each artist; they all worked on all parts.

"The prep work took a lot of time," Grzadzielewski said. "Then we had to prime it; it took a lot of primer." They used an outdoor water-based house paint and applied a special sealant to the mural to protect it from the effects of weather.

Chad Caya, owner of Caya's Painting Inc., of Grand Forks, was a valued mentor, they said. About two years ago, he and artist Casey Opstad created a mural on the south exterior of Rhombus Guys Brewery on South Third Street.

"(Caya) helped us pick out colors and get the colors mixed for us," Grzadzielewski said.

The artists are happy with the way the project turned out.

"It's been cool to see the community response to the mural," Cruger said. "Even when it was only half-finished, people were already using it as a backdrop for graduation photos. No one else will ever have a photo like that."

Is another similar project in their future?

"Yes, we want to do another mural," Cruger said.

"Especially together," Grzadzielewski added.