FALLS CITY – Falls City Chamber and Main Street held a ribbon cutting Wednesday for a Harlan Street mural called The Quilted Truck by its artists.

Andrew and Sarah McWilson of Hand In Hand spent four weeks drawing, mixing colors and using a lift as much as 40 feet to the top of the building.

 

 

Andrew said inspiration for the image came from a friend’s photo of a truck that seemed patched together with various parts. He was delighted to arrive in Falls City and begin to see many more “quilted trucks” pass by.

Andrew: “Spending, I don’t know, maybe an hour in town, seeing about  a half dozen what I call quilted trucks drive by me. It was like oh, dang. These things are living and they are free and they are just out here.”

100x34' mural

The mural  includes a poem Sarah wrote, inspired by history, Stanton Lake and Falls City’s patchwork of people.

Sarah: “This is the work we do. We connect with small communities. We connect with a group who cares to bring art and we bring art to walls. We love public art because it’s inclusive, it’s for everybody. At the end of the day we’re after capturing a feeling.”

 

Falls City was proclaimed a “City of Art” in 2019 partly because of its connections with artists and writers, such as  John Falter and television writer David Wiltse. Chamber Director Amber Holle said the mural was ordered because of the encouragement of building owner Mitch Glaeser and success of smaller murals in the city.

The McWilsons have been painting murals in rural settings since their marriage and creation of Hand In Hand eight years ago. Sarah said Americans are rediscovering public art.

Sarah: “Cities have been bringing public art for a while, but I think there is something really special about a mural in a smaller town and I think a lot of smaller towns are catching on to that, they way it can bring people together, the way it can speak to a place and give people a sense of place.”