Vincennes City Councilman Ryan Lough spoke with a lot of enthusiasm when bringing up the possibility of adding historical murals to area parks during a recent city council meeting.
“When we look at a more ‘walkable city’ and quality of life, we’re looking at more than sidewalks,” Lough told his fellow council members last week. “We’re looking at a lot of non-historic buildings in these areas. But we can take walls that are just brick and make historical murals.”
When the council picked back up discussions of potential quality of life improvements, one thing that came up more than once was spending money to improve the city’s park system.
Lough said he would like to see murals painted in the parks, perhaps ones that reflect their individual history. And he wants to start with Gregg Park — a park with a rather significant history in Indiana’s oldest city.
“A lot of people don’t even realize that the fair was once held there,” Lough said. “And it used to have a horse track.
“I want to see that kind of stuff worked into these murals to highlight the history of each area.”
He spoke to local historians and eventually reached out to regionally-renowned artist and Vincennes native Barb Stahl.
Stahl is “an accomplished artist with a successful track record of creating meaningful and well-received public and fine art,” according to her resume featured in a booklet published by Art Space Vincennes, 521 Main St.
She “possesses a rare blend of artistic creativity and business acumen, combined with a proven ability to work collaboratively with engineers, designers, artists, educators, and members of the public to create memorable work,” it reads.
A graduate of Lincoln High School, Stahl now owns Stahl Studios Inc. in Indianapolis and does both commercial and public murals. She is perhaps best known in Indianapolis for painting the NBA Pacers’ schedule on the side of the Baker’s Life Fieldhouse each year.
“I’ve always wanted to come back and do a mural in Vincennes or have something there of me,” Stahl said. “I was born in Vincennes in 1958, so I would love to have a piece there.”
Local residents may also be familiar with her work from an exhibit hosted by Art Space in 2017 during a Lincoln Homecoming celebration. The show was titled “Coming Home” and was full of creations inspired by her love of all things spiritual and science.
“I remember her very well from when Amy and I started at Vincennes University,” Jendrzejewski said of their friendship. “That would have been ‘77 or ‘78.
“She was always a little more colorful,” he said. “She was rock and roll.”
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