New mural aims to liven up Park Central Square as Newberry building remains vacant

The southwest corner of Park Central Square has gone through a transformation in the past week. The corner housing the Newberry building, vacant for decades, has received a makeover in the form of a mural aimed to bring more life and color to the square and downtown at large.

In place of the boarded up windows at the corner between the Park Central Branch Library and LA Luna Hair Academy, a bright yellow mural now invites passersby to "Make something where you are."

"Springfield is, you know, a great place to be, and great things can be made here just as well as they could be made anywhere," said Hailey Magnus, communications manager for the Downtown Springfield Association.

The mural is part of a project designed to add value back to the square and downtown Springfield through a collaboration between the DSA and Better Block SGF, a local non-profit organization aimed at empowering individuals to reimagine the built environment. Beyond the central art piece, the project also includes bright yellow planters and an outdoor patio space in front of the library.

Making the mural

In just three days, Meg Wagler, a local visual artist, turned bright yellow planks of plywood into artwork. Donning a respirator and a ladder, Wagler painted large colorful letters of a phrase inspired by Springfield's Jeff Houghton, the host of "The Mystery Hour," who made a video in 2017 calling on viewers to realize dreams are achievable at any location and in the present.

That message, the video title and now the phrase painted on the square spoke to Wagler personally in 2017 to get out of a more corporate environment and pursue her art. Now she urge others to dream of what the old Newberry building could be.

Because of how visible and community-centered the piece was, Wagler said she struggled with creative block in trying to conceptualize the idea visually. But her main goal remained the same — it had to be bold.

"I really wanted this design to be really something really bold and something that doesn't blend into the surroundings, because I want it to start a conversation," she said. "I don't think art alone changes the world, but I do think art is a conduit for conversation."

For Wagler, the mural was a way to not only promote investment in the city, but also investment in the arts. Wagler, who has been awaiting an opportunity to paint a mural downtown, said art is a way to give Springfield a more definitive, unique and "flavorful" identity as well as provide space and opportunity for varying artistic styles, especially in a region where the art scene often focuses on the outdoors and nature.

"The more representation we see of successful projects like this, the more kind of social proof there is for other businesses or community members to understand that the investment pays off," Wagler said. "Not always in an immediate return, but it's definitely more in the fabric of kind of what the community is and talks about and looks like."

While she was only working on the mural from Monday to Wednesday, she experienced in real time what the message was all about — community. Staff at the library welcomed her, passersby asked questions and expressed excitement, graduates took photos in front of the mural and those watching greeted her with applause as she packed up at the end of the day.

The mural is technically a temporary installment but the plan is for it to remain until the Newberry building is purchased or redeveloped. Even after that, the art will live on as it is also a transportable piece that is planned to be installed at another vacant or underused space.

More to come

Addison Jones, founder of Better Block SGF, said a project for this corner of the square was an ongoing conversation with the DSA for years. As the storefront remained vacant, it became a place for unhoused people to gather and attracted negative activity. With increasing pressure from surrounding businesses, Jones said it was time to turn ideas into reality.

"We just were constantly dreaming of what this could be, how it could be better," he said. "Instead of you know, kind of complaining about just how bad it is, we decided to do something and make something really cool with what we have in the meantime."

The project is not stopping at the visual makeover. Jones said within the next month, the corner in front of the mural will be used for a rotation of vendors, whether that be local artists, musicians or food and beverage businesses. While frequency and duration of vendors will be dependent on how many vendors are interested, Jones expects the space to be used two to three days a week with rotating vendors each day.

That programming will run through summer and fall. The outdoor patio space however will forever be available for the library to have, use and change at their discretion.

More: What's going on downtown? Officials address vacancies, unhoused population, more

Jones said the Downtown Springfield Community Improvement District provided funding to get the project up and running, but it will take more funding to sustain it, especially with the programming planned for the space.

Beyond the scope of this project, Better Block SGF will also put out outdoor furniture on the square to provide more opportunities to enjoy the urban outdoors during the summer months. The DSA will also bring back the outdoor concert series, pickleball courts on the square and other interactive events that drive visitors downtown.

Marta Mieze covers local government at the News-Leader. Have feedback, tips or story ideas? Contact her at mmieze@news-leader.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: What to know about the new mural at Springfield's Park Central Square