Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce had a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday for the mural at the Kosciusko County Convention & Visitors Bureau Visitors Center, 111 Capital Drive, Warsaw. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — The new mural at the Kosciusko County Convention & Visitors Bureau Visitor Center is meant to be photographed by itself or as backdrop as a way to promote the county as well as art in the community.

With the help of the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce Tuesday, Aug. 8, the KCCVB celebrated the mural with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, open house, a popsicles party and coloring for the kids.

In explaining how the mural came to be on the wall inside the Visitors Center, 111 Capital Drive, Warsaw, Cori Humes, KCCVB executive director, said, “We were fortunate enough to learn about a grant program that our state tourism office … had, an art activation grant. So, our staff here looked into this, to see if it was possible for us to do because we were trying to find an opportunity or space to try to add some color to the Visitors Center.”

They submitted an application for the grant with the help of and design by artists Erica Deuel and Beth Williman, of Spoonful of Imagination.

“This is how it came to be. So we were able to get that grant and make this happen for today,” Humes said.

Deuel and Williman were chosen as the mural’s artists after the KCCVB reached out to local artists. The goal was to use local artists from Kosciusko County that are from here and understand the community.

“Beth and Erica submitted a great rendition, or art piece, that we selected and felt it would work best with our Clearly Kosciusko brand, as well as what our community is, representative of lakes,” Humes said.

Deuel said their work reflected how they view their community and what they think of when they reflect on the community.

Artists Erica Deuel, right, and Beth Williman, left, of Spoonful of Imagination, pose with the mural they created for the Kosciusko County Convention & Visitors Bureau Visitor Center. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

“And so, the sunsets here are beautiful. They’re stunning. And it’s just a warm community. So, incorporating a lot of warm colors with one of the sunsets, it just felt like it’s the heart of who we are and location, with people as well as nature,” Deuel stated.

Williman said there’s a lot of great things about Warsaw, “but this was definitely at the top of the list for us. Just being at the lake – it’s calming, it’s beautiful. And we wanted to represent that.”

The Visitors Center mural is Deuel and Williman’s second mural that they’ve done together.

“Beth and I have collaborated before to do a mural. It’s always fun to see it go from paper into real life. And you always have to just adapt to the different scale. This was on an 8-1/2 by 11 sheet of paper, and we got here and were like, ‘We need to go bigger!’ And they were generous enough to let us expand our mural further on the wall. We just had a vision and they trusted us with it and we were very honored,” Deuel said.

Now that the Visitors Center mural is a reality, Humes said, “Our team has been so excited about this. It’s kind of been a process that our whole team here – we’re a team of four – have been wanting to do here. So we’re so excited that it was done.”

Deuel and Williman took several weeks to paint the mural, and Humes said watching them at work was wonderful.

“We’re so glad it’s here,” Humes said. “And the goal of this is to engage visitors and residents alike to come inside the Visitor Center, take a picture, be a part of the community, place it on social media as another way to showcase art in Kosciusko County.”

The Visitors Center is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“You can come in, take a picture. We have our great adirondack chairs here that we’ll move in front here, you’re welcome to take (a photo) then,” Humes said.

The KCCVB promotes Kosciusko County to visitors. Humes said their goal is to bring visitors to Kosciusko County and get them to explore recreation, shop and dine, and see all the great things that Kosciusko County has to offer.

“Stay here. Visit. And ultimately, we hope that through that process – it all starts with a visit – we hope that they also would be able to come and be a resident of Kosciusko County,” she stated.

As for Spoonful of Imagination, it has changed over the years, Deuel explained.

“We do remote work like this. We can be hired to do murals. We also can be hired to go do private events. We have an online store where we sell craft kits. So, we love helping other people tap into their imagination and test their creative skills and bring their ideas to life,” she said.

For more information about the KCCVB and the Visitors Center, visit its website.

For more about Spoonful of Imagination, visit spoonfulofimagination.com.