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Sioux City Mural Project brings new art downtown

Argentinian artist Martin Ron has painted a mural of a man and his dog sitting under a giant sea turtle in Buenos Aires. He’s painted people picnicking on the tail of a shark in Benalla, Australia. And now, he’s working on painting two people lounging on top of buffalo in downtown Sioux City.

His art can be found in the streets of England, Belgium, Estonia, Malaysia and Thailand. He only has one other mural in the United States, and that’s in Miami. And yet, he was excited to come here, calling it an “exotic place.”

Ron searched for the right words to say. Spanish is his first language. His assistant Ramiro Smith Estrada clarified, “It’s not like your regular point of destination for tourism,”

“It’s more interesting,” Ron said.

“But it’s nice too because you get to, in a way, know the real USA,” Smith Estrada said. “You usually go to New York, Miami, big cities, but I think this is more (of a) representation of actual America.”

“And it’s quiet,” Ron said before switching back to speaking Spanish.

“It’s like a good holiday too because it’s quiet,” Smith Estrada interpreted. Then, he added, “Buenos Aires has 10 million people living there, so it’s always a rush and mess.”

Everywhere he goes, Ron tries to capture the personality of the city. The people, architecture and history of a place inspire his surrealistic compositions. Elements of fantasy fuse with everyday life. Another defining feature of his work is its size alone, adding to the visual impact.

The buffalo in Sioux City is no exception. It will cover one wall of a three-story building on the corner of Fifth and Douglas. A second mural is being created by Des Moines area artist Jenna Brownlee in the Historic Fourth Street District.

Both artists were commissioned by Downtown Partners, which received a $25,000 grant from the Gilchrist Foundation to support the Sioux City Mural Project. Their murals are set to be finished by the end of the month.

Ragen Cote, executive director of Downtown Partners, said that the purpose of the project is to help make downtown more inviting with eye-catching, thought-provoking, interactive public art.

“Art anywhere—even in your home, in your business, in your community—it just adds an element of creativity and innovation,” she said.

While Ron is an established muralist, Brownlee just started doing large-scale works this year. She is a professional graphic designer and runs a small business on the side, specializing in watercolor. But like Ron’s concept, her mural borrows from past representations of Sioux City while looking to future revitalization.

Her design includes historical Sioux City landmarks like the Grandview Park Bandshell, Woodbury County Courthouse, Sergeant Floyd Monument and Veteran’s Memorial Bridge. It also incorporates a collage of florals and typography, which are both part of her signature style.

“It will say, ‘This is Sioux City,’ which is sort of just a bold statement and kind of captures the vibrancy of the community,” she said. “I like for my work to encourage people to stop and smell the roses.”

Her mural can be found on the side of M’s on Fourth. She hopes the bright pinks, reds and yellows draw people in to take a closer look—and maybe stop and take a selfie.

This kind of interaction is what drives Ron’s work too. He prefers painting in the streets instead of a studio. Because out here, in the open air, he gets to connect with the city and its people. He gets to know the world.

And in the end, his work can’t be bought and sold. It belongs to the community.