Downtown Partners Welcomes Building Mural Artists

Downtown Partners in Sioux City, Iowa is hosting a meet and greet event on Sunday, October 15^th at 1:00 p.m. at Crash! Boom! Bang! on 213 4^th Street for artists Jenna Brownlee (Des Moines, Iowa) and Martin Ron (Buenos Aires, Argentina).

Downtown Partners was the proud recipient of a $25,000 Gilchrist Foundation grant to support the Sioux City Mural Project. The purpose of the Sioux City Mural Project is to foster creativity, innovation and the continued revitalization of the arts in our city through the creation and installation of murals on building facades in the downtown area. In direct complement to Sculpt Siouxland, the project will create two murals that meet the highest standards of artistic excellence, engage the public with diversity and creativity and strengthen the arts in Sioux City through highly-visible, public access to murals.

The first mural was started on September 17, 2017 at 1021 4^th Street, on the east side of the property.  The building is occupied by Dan Myers and Vernon Meyer, owners of M’s on 4^th and M’s Uncorked and is located in the center of the popular Historic 4^th Street District. Muralist Jenna Brownlee is an Iowa native, graphic designer, painter and hand-lettering artist. She creates artwork that encourages others to stop and smell the roses. Her portfolio ranges from a desert landscape full of wildflowers created only from chalk that spanned three walls at a restaurant to an acrylic mural of a floral bouquet that has become a local favorite centerpiece for selfies, and her most recent public art collaboration was part of a collection of 18 golf balls that were each 36” in diameter, where she highlighted the city’s skyline framed by flowers. Although she enjoys larger-than-life creations, Jenna’s specialty is watercolor with images inspired by organic shapes, painted with bright and vibrant colors to accentuate the beauty found in nature. Jenna is on site the weekend of October 14th and October 28th, with the completion of the mural scheduled for October 29^th.

The second mural was started on October 10, 2017 by muralist Martin Ron from Buenos Aires, Argentina and his assistant, Ramiro Smith Estrada. The mural is located at 501 Douglas Street, facing west, and is home to entrepreneur Jeana Goosmann and the expanding, Goosmann Law Firm. Ron’s work is noted for its size, complexity of color, subject and detail. His creations are painstakingly researched, created and given a perfectionist’s level of attention to detail. Ron’s work taps not only into a larger artistic history: the influence of Salvador Dali’s surrealism is evident; it also considers the local skater culture and South American vibrancy. It celebrates art history, the area around the drawing and the characteristics that make South American street art, Argentinian art in particular, such a fascinating part of the global street art phenomenon. Ron was chosen because of their extensive experience with murals, how their artistic style reflects/complements that of Sioux City’s urban landscape and their geographical and cultural inclusiveness. Martin and Ramiro will be on site daily through October 22nd.

Crash! Boom! Bang! will be serving their signature Bloody Mary bar during the event. Cash bar. Must be 21 to enter.