The biggest recipient of this year’s Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation competitive grants has some big plans for additional public art.

Tower View Team with Jefferson Matters: A Main Street and Chamber Community is working with lots of artists for the west alleyway on the downtown square called, “Imagination Alley.” Tower View Team Chair Deb McGinn says they have been working with Nevada artist Kelsey Wilson to develop creative ways to utilize the alley space. McGinn tells Raccoon Valley Radio Wilson met with the Greene County third graders for creature drawings and then had the fifth graders write stories based on those creatures. McGinn talks about how Wilson will incorporate the kids’ work into the alley.

“She’s going to put those somehow on something called a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ board, which will be a game that kids can play in the alley space. It’ll be an interactive piece of artwork that they have created themselves.”

McGinn notes that Wilson is also using a newer art technology with augmented reality. She explains that an app on a smart device will allow someone to use markers that are placed throughout the whimsical mural on Art on the Fly’s south wall.

“And that will make that artwork that you’re looking at actually move. And we even have a fun dragon that starts on a book and all of a sudden it starts flying across the mural, and then it flies up and over the wall and disappears.”   

McGinn points out they are also working with Shane Olson of Olson Iron Works for a metal sign to be placed on a book in the alleyway and Iowa artist Hilda DeBruyne has also agreed to create an arch entryway for the alley as well. 

This project received a $100,000 grant from GGCGC, which was the largest competitive grant recipient for this year.