My 2017 Trains on Main piece
Pictured above is my entry for the 2017 Trains on Main public art project for Waunakee. This was the first time I had applied for and been accepted for a public art project. I was really excited about the topic and how the locomotive played a role in the development of Waunakee, my hometown. I went with the idea of immigration as the main theme since certain individuals at the federal level of government chose to and continue to vilify immigrants. Without immigrants, we wouldn’t be here. Immigrants are important to the cultural fabric that weaves through our lives. They bring new ideas and new customs to enrich the culture that is already established.
The base was an areal view of the Waunakee area with the population numbers from the various censuses as the town grew. They were done in purple and white since that is the two main colors of the high school. The main body of the locomotive shows a pastoral agricultural scene with European immigrants arriving to the valley below where Waunakee thrives.
The back side (which I am still in search of a picture of and hopefully will update here eventually) depicted a future Waunakee, the home of a future space port and monorails.
