A collaborative project hosted by the City of Perry and Iowa State University will come to fruition this weekend.

The “Portraits of Perry” steamroll printmaking event takes place at 10am Saturday in Caboose Park.

For the last several months, Iowa State printmaking students and faculty have been working with Perry High School art students, local artists and business owners to create carvings on 16-by-16 inch wood blocks.  This weekend, the blocks will be inked, arranged onto canvas and then run over by the City’s steamroller to create prints.

City Administrator Butch Niebuhr says it has been an interesting project to watch unfold.

“To see some of the work the people are doing, and the high school kids are doing, they are truly artists and creating a work of art.  Hopefully we’ll be able to display that, and get enough printings of that to be able to show off to people and see what’s going on.  So it should be a fun event.”

The prints will be displayed as public art in Perry, on and around the Raccoon River Valley Trail.

Saturday’s event is open to the public.  For more information, contact professor Jennifer Drinkwater at 708-2825.