A mural and neon sign can be seen at the new training location for the Evansville Chapter of Independent Electrical Contractors Southern Indiana in Evansville, Tuesday, July 23, 2024. Staff photo by Kate Cassady
Here's a list of all of the pioneers listed in the mural:
- Nikola Tesla: Developed the alternative-current power system that provides electricity for homes and buildings and pioneered the field of radio communications.
- George Westinghouse: Created the railway air brake and worked with Tesla to revolutionize alternative current power.
- Thomas Edison: Created the phonograph, the carbon-button transmitter for the telephone speaker, the microphone and more.
- Benjamin Franklin: Pioneer of electricity.
- Georg Simon Ohm: Discovered Ohm's law, which describes a relationship between current, voltage, and resistance.
- Andre-Marie Ampere: Founder of the science of electromagnetism and Ampere's law, which describes the magnetic force between two electric currents.
- Lewis Howard Latimer: Inventor of air conditioning and improved carbon filaments for light bulbs.
- James Watt: Known for the Watt steam engine.
- Alessandro Volta: Credited as the inventor of the electric battery and discovery of methane.
- Edith Clarke: First female electrical engineer in the U.S.
- Joseph Henry: Pioneer of electromagnetism and inventor of the electromagnet.
- Michael Faraday: Pioneer of electromagnetism, discovered benzene.
If you're driving south along Weinbach and Morgan avenues, you may see a new thought-provoking mural.
The Independent Electrical Contractors (IEC) Southern Indiana-Evansville Chapter, located at 1924 E. Morgan Ave, has spent the last six weeks revamping and changing the exterior of the once-bare building it has called home for five years.
"I'm all about education," said chapter president Joshua Lamb.
Like many other industries, recruitment is always a battle − the IEC has struggled to get more laborers, and so they're making efforts to get younger people interested in electrical work.
At the location, they annually train about 60 electricians who gain about 8,000 training hours during a four-year program, learning everything from motors to commercial wiring.
Working in the field for the last 26 years, Lamb said he always takes the opportunity to educate people about about why he does what he does. He also wanted to share that same opportunity with community members.
Having been in his position as president for the last 13 weeks, he decided to bring in a new change. Recognizing that the building was sitting at a busy intersection, the white exterior needed some sprucing up.
"(I) just wanted people to put their phones down for a few minutes and just talk about it and ignite that spark of interest," Lamb said. "So when they go home, they'd talk about it and try to find out who people are."
Changing what drivers saw on a daily broke into two parts: a neon sign and a mural.
Taking a spin on Evansville's motto of "e is for everyone," the neon sign is an overlay of the map of Evansville. During the evening, the blue, red, and white can be seen lighting up most of the entrance and sidewalk nearby.
For the mural, they teamed with Laughing Light Art to bring something both visually appealing and educational. While Lamb might have had an idea of what and who to include, he left it all to artist Dylan Marie Wathen to bring it to life.
She painted 12 historic figures along the 63-foot-by-14-foot wall that faces Weinbach and Morgan. It took about six weeks to finish.
Now with this mural, and the popularity that has come with it, Lamb and others hope this will intrigue even the smallest mind into both the mural and the field.
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