It Takes a Special Community to Make Street Art
<p>It was an overcast day a few weeks ago when I set off from our home on 15th Street, walking toward Clarinda’s Lied Public Library.</p>
<p>I had just passed the Sheriff’s Office with its American and Blue Lives Matter flags when I glanced over and saw this mural for the first time.</p>
<p>Suddenly, my step quickened, and my mood lightened, so I had to slow down to look closer at this new addition to our southwest Iowa community.</p>
<p>I loved the vibrancy and the centered tree. It covered a worn-out, nondescript wall painting.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1391.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Robert Henri</a> said:</p>
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<p>You should paint like a man coming over the hill singing.</p>
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<p>Whoever painted this took that advice to heart.</p>
<p>I asked my friends Scott and Nancy, who know everything and everyone in our small town. They are the prototype connectors Malcolm Gladwell writes about in <em>The Tipping Point</em>.</p>
<p>They gave me the artist's name, Tatiana Schaapherder, who lives in town.</p>
<p>When I asked Tatiana about this mural, she said</p>
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<p>My sponsors gave me one word: Community.</p>
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<p>She told me, “I wanted my painting to show all the people of my town coming together, with the tree in the middle representing growth. The cardinal on the right is the town bird and high school team name. The robin on the left honors the building owned by the Robins Nest Cafe.”</p>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/@gardnerp/it-takes-a-special-community-to-make-street-art-1f34df0cc41c"><strong>Read More</strong></a></p>