New Mural to Make Its Mark on Court Avenue

A new mural has been completed on Court Avenue in Downtown Des Moines (DSM), thanks to the investment of Operation Downtown, in partnership with the Greater Des Moines Partnership. Liz Lidgett, Owner of Liz Lidgett Gallery + Design, Todd Millang, property owner at 208 Court Ave., and Renae Mauk, Vice President of Downtown Development at the Greater Des Moines Partnership, share their excitement about working with Operation Downtown and The Partnership on this evolving mural space, while Iowa artist Thomas Agran answers a few questions on the inspiration he and partner Drew Etienne had for the piece. Read what they have to say below, and make sure to stop by the RoCA building (208 Court Ave.) to see the finished mural.

Capitol View Mural Q+A

Q: What was the process for the Capitol View Mural project like, and how was working with the contributing artists?

Liz Lidgett: Todd and I started working on this wall together about 10 years ago. Little by little, and as budgets allowed and artists were available, we created a quilt of murals, adding more each year. When the wall started to deteriorate and was then repaired, the existing murals were ruined, so the team started to discuss phase two of the project to create a large mural.

LL: The wall has become an important part of the city. It’s a backdrop for the Downtown Farmers’ Market and so many other cool things happening on Court Avenue. We had a lot of responsibility to create something beautiful that would be another great backdrop so we’re preserving two of the murals that were part of the quilt, too. We held an open call for artists and the selection committee chose Thomas Agran and Drew Etienne, artists from the Iowa City area.

Q: Did you work closely with the artist once they’re on site?

LL: A client like Operation Downtown will hire me to make sure obstacles are out of the way for the artists once they are on location. I try to stay out of the way, but make sure they have the equipment, materials, timelines, phone numbers, contacts, etc. at their disposal. All the logistics of creating a mural at this size are handled for both the client and the artists. One of the reasons a project like this is so exciting to work on is all the people involved.

This project is tall so it’s scary to go up high and work. In a way, the artists are both artists and adrenaline junkies because they’re okay working high up.

TM: When we did the quilt, I would rent a lift and use a climbing harness. When you get to the top of the building and you’re leaning outside the basket, it’s a little intimidating being up there.

LL: Thomas and Drew are such professionals, and this is what they do daily, and I feel thankful to work with them.

Q: What do you hope people see in the piece?

LL: I personally think of it as a love letter to the Midwest and a love letter to Des Moines. The style is very romantic, and I think it evokes how I feel about my city, in the color and brush strokes. It has the sort of look like how they used to put Vaseline over a video camera lens… it’s almost a little blurred. And it’s beautiful. It’s really beautiful. I hope people look at it and see how beautiful our city truly is.

It was Todd’s idea to have a mural on that wall. He appreciates art and saw this as a special place for artwork that people could interact with and that gets to be part of people’s lives on a daily basis.

TM: I am beyond proud of being from and living in Des Moines, Iowa. When we narrowed it down to our final three candidates and then chose the artists, my vote was for two Iowa people who are great at what they do.

Renae Mauk: It has been fantastic to watch this expansive project come to life and we are incredibly grateful to the Operation Downtown board for their investment. The new mural will serve as a welcome surprise for years to come, as called for within the Downtown DSM Future Forward Vision Plan and Action Plan. The collaboration that has gone into this project has been truly impressive and speaks to the values of the DSM community.

Mural Artist Q+A

Q: What was your inspiration for the piece?

Thomas Agran: The mural presents a panorama of Downtown Des Moines from the vantage point of the Capitol dome. We wanted to create a piece that celebrates a sense of place, using color, edge quality and atmosphere to engage this massive wall but that integrates itself and does not overwhelm Downtown. Inspired by our own studio practices, painters we've studied with like Eve Mansdorf and Bobbie McKibbin, and artists like Antonio Lopez Garcia, the mural exists more as a painting in public space than a prescriptive or singular message.

Q: What was the process of completing this project like for you?

TA: This wall is massive and creating a brush-painted mural on that scale is a challenge! It's important to us that murals have the warmth of human touch, and a goal for the mural was to keep the imagery highly legible, but the paint handling open and spontaneous. As the mural took shape, we felt excited about the way the palette matched its surroundings. The mural reads crisply from a distance, but dissolves into irregular marks up close — the magic of painting.

Q: What do you hope that the DSM community feels as they look at the new mural?

TA: We hope the grandeur of its scale and composition celebrates not just the city of Des Moines but also the expansive sense of space and distance we enjoy in Iowa. We hope that the mural presents itself as a public cultural asset of the city, and an act of human / artistic expression that helps authentically author a sense of place vs. a branding act of "creative placemaking."

Find out more about the Capitol View Mural artists by visiting thomasagran.com and drewetienne.com.

In Downtown Des Moines (DSM) and across the region, public art installations, murals and more help drive economic development while offering inspiration to those who live here and also to visitors.

Recently ranked a top 10 metro for number of economic development projects among metros with a population of 200,000 to 1 million, growth continues in and around Downtown Des Moines (DSM) in part thanks to unique public-private partnerships that allow community leaders to work together to invest in, grow and improve the city center. Learn more about other recent development projects in Downtown DSM.