Mansfield’s past has become a beautiful part of the city’s present and future in downtown Mansfield, and The Ohio State University at Mansfield played a big part in making it happen. Three historic Mansfield postcard murals that were originally created as projection backdrops for the Ohio State Mansfield Theater’s production of Our Town last fall were transformed into permanent installations. The murals were placed on the side of a building at Third Street and Main Street in downtown Mansfield.
“Mankind Murals Inc, a local non-profit organization with the mission of improving the community through public artwork, created the art as both the visual projection for the Our Town stage production, as well as the three permanent 9ft x 6ft panel installations,” said Mankind Murals Founder Luke Beekman. “An artist and former Ohio State Mansfield student, Sam Neer, painted the murals. It was a great collaboration.”
The murals depict three different scenes of Mansfield in the 1900s. The scenes include: A view of Third Street and Main Street, the Mansfield Central Park fountain and the Mansfield B & O railroad passenger station.
“This is great example of how the community can come together to use art to tell the history of the community through the Ohio State Mansfield theater and then use the art to beautify downtown. I’m thrilled we were all able to work together in this way,” said Beekman.
Ohio State’s motto is “Education for Citizenship.” Ohio State Mansfield Dean and Director Norman Jones believes that meaningful community partnerships like this one, where students can be a part of a project that does so much good for the community, help drive the “Education for Citizenship” motto home.
“I’m thrilled that we can be a part of a public art project that both honors Mansfield’s history and helps build Mansfield’s future,” said Jones. “Meaningful community partnerships such as this allow students to gain experience in research, service learning and civic engagement, that help our community grow and prosper.”
The theatre program at Ohio State is supported by the Friends of the Theatre, who engage in volunteer and annual fundraising activities to support theater productions and projects such as the murals.
Source: The Ohio State University at Mansfield
