Second of 16 paintings to adorn downtown Wadsworth readied

WADSWORTH — Another large mural project is set to begin downtown this week, the second of 16 planned by Main Street Wadsworth that are slated to be carried out over the next few years.Iowa-based artist Ben Schuh will begin painting his mural Thursday on the side of the Subway building at 141 Main St. that faces Central Intermediate School. It will be the final mural of 2019.Schuh's work will depict three of Wadsworth's most prominent historic industrial sites: the Wadsworth Salt Company, Ohio Match Company, and Ohio Injector Company. Each factory picture will be fashioned as a box of Blue Tip matches with a message reading "Iconic Wadsworth Est. 1814" rounding out the 270-square-foot piece.The nod to Blue Tip matches pays homage to matches once manufactured by the Ohio Match Co.Schuh said he will spend 75 to 120 hours on the project, which will involve him projecting the image onto the building and painting directly onto the wall.He is aiming to have the mural completed by Main Street's First Friday event on Aug. 2, but inclement weather could push work into the following week."I stumbled upon Main Street's proposal online, by complete chance," the artist said. "I asked if they were willing to work with an out-of-state artist, because sometimes people don't want to do that."My goal is to bring quite a bit of experience to town and hopefully inspire some local artists and give people access to original artwork they might not have had otherwise."Multiple murals have been completed by Schuh throughout Iowa, ranging from high-traffic sites such as Des Moines' Drake University to towns with populations as small as 3,000."This mural in Wadsworth will be very similar in size and scope to what's gone up in Des Moines, and that's a city of about 600,000 people," he said."It's always really rewarding to interact with the public, no matter what size the population is."I give a lot of credit to Main Street Wadsworth for coordinating all of this. I think it's good for smaller towns to embrace interaction with artists and original work, especially when it's in celebration of their history.That seems to be really important to Adrianne (Krauss) and the people at Main Street. I want people to walk past and say, 'My dad or grandpa worked at that plant.'"Fundraising for Schuh's work as well as future murals has been set up by Main Street, with contributions at https://mainstreetwadsworth.org or givinggrid.com/wadsworthartmural. Donations can also be mailed or dropped off in person at Main Street's office at 102 Main St., Suite 20.Main Street Director Adrianne Krauss said any funds left over after mural work has finished will be used for downtown beautification work and that those who donate $500 or more will have their names engraved on a plaque at a location still to be determined.The mural project is off to promising start.Wadsworth resident Paulette Grub unveiled the first downtown murals on July 5, showing five pieces she completed on the wall of The Sub Station, 116 High St., that are based off of historic photos from her personal collection."We're still identifying where the plaque will go but we will definitely use it as a way to say thank you," she said then."The wall is already being primed right now with some base paint and we're all looking forward to getting things going. Our mission is to create an unmatched downtown experience.A mural like this helps with both revitalization and historical preservation."Contact reporter Jonathan Delozier at (330)721-4050 or jdelozier@medina-gazette.com.