Marquette mural reflects town's railroad roots
Artist Shawna (Converse) McLeod last week completed the mural on the side of the historic Marquette schoolhouse building—what owners Chad and Kandi Gillitzer are re-developing as the Driftless Station. The mural reflects the town’s railroad roots while promoting the exciting building revitalization project. (Photos by Audrey Posten)
When height prevented her from utilizing a projector, McLeod opted for the doodle grid method to complete the mural. “After I primed it, I spray painted random doodles on the surface. I uploaded it into my art app and laid that overtop of my sketch and I changed the opacity so I could see the design through the doodles, and that helped me map it out on the wall,” she said.
The new Driftless Station mural is designed in the ghost style, which gives an historic effect, said artist Shawna McLeod.
By Audrey Posten, Times-Register
A new mural in Marquette reflects the town’s railroad roots while promoting an exciting building revitalization project.
Artist Shawna (Converse) McLeod of McLeod Paint & Design last week completed the mural on the side of the historic Marquette schoolhouse building—what owners Chad and Kandi Gillitzer are re-developing as the Driftless Station.
In the image, the words “Driftless Station” and “Marquette, Iowa” emerge from the black background along with a historic steam engine, its puff of smoke revealing two midnight blue flowers.
It was an exciting project for McLeod, who is a native of the area.
“It’s pretty cool to be doing a project where I grew up,” she said.
McLeod has been an art teacher for 13 years, first at West Liberty and now Bettendorf. She began painting murals with her students, then did her first community project in West Liberty during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Once COVID happened and I wasn’t able to teach full time in West Liberty, that spring, some community members and myself planned a large mural to do on the street during the uncertain times everyone was experiencing. I worked on that pretty much all that summer, and ever since have been trying to grow my business, McLeod Paint & Design. In the summer, I line up murals to do,” she explained.
When commissioned for a mural, McLeod said she forms a plan with the client, discussing their goals and the potential cost based on square footage and level of detail. Then they collaborate on a design.
“A lot of times, any more, murals can really promote the brand and the business and the community as an advertisement. People want to take pictures in front of them,” she said.
McLeod’s work is often inspired by nature and being outside, partially, she quipped, because of growing up in northeast Iowa and on a dairy farm. The Driftless Station mural was her first train. It was also her first ghost style mural.
This style, she explained, “gives the historic effect. It fades into the building. I was trying to create the fade effect around the edge.”
McLeod said the most challenging part of the project was the texture of the brick on the over-100-year-old building. So was the height.
While not the biggest mural she’s done (the volunteer project in West Liberty was 80 feet wide), it’s the highest. She worked from a lift throughout the process. As a result, she couldn’t rely on the projection method to emblazon the design on the side of the building as she originally hoped.
“That was going to require a second lift and was going to be too complex to put the projector in the air, so I ended up doing the doodle grid method,” McLeod said.
This process—black doodles scattered across a gray background—was what people likely saw as they drove past the mural in its early stages.
“Basically, I have my initial sketch, then after I primed it, I spray painted random doodles on the surface. I uploaded it into my art app and laid that overtop of my sketch and I changed the opacity so I could see the design through the doodles, and that helped me map it out on the wall,” she explained. “People were probably like, ‘What is she doing?’”
Public feedback has been positive throughout the process.
The Gillitzers described the mural as a “truly unique, symbolic sign for our beloved schoolhouse.”
Once completed, the Driftless Station project will include six apartments, one vacation rental and up to 1,800 square feet of commercial space to lease.
McLeod is happy to contribute to this venture and to Marquette as a whole.
“I hope it adds to the area and is a good entry into Marquette. That was one of the reasons why, when I looked at the design, I wanted to put Marquette, Iowa in there, to represent the whole community and not just the Driftless Station,” she said. “I hope it becomes a landmark part of Marquette and something people recognize to promote the community.”
