Union Street Mural

The Waupaca Community Arts Board is excited to announce the completion of a new 13x100-foot mural on Union Street in Downtown Waupaca.

Designed by professional mural artist Leif Larson, the highly detailed and massive Union Street Mural runs the length of the Antiques on Main building, whose front door faces Main Street.

Since his first brush stroke on the brick wall Sept. 22, Mr. Larson’s daily presence on the scaffolding, and his whimsically colorful depiction of the community has given Waupaca residents something to cheer about as the area’s pandemic numbers increase.

“The mural captures so many wonderful things about our community,” said Lillian Bittman, WCAB board member and Union Street Mural chairman. “Before he started, Leif spent hours with the mural committee discussing all aspects of our area – the natural beauty, iconic places, and those intangible things each of us think about when we think of Waupaca. His first-draft design took our breath away, and his design only improved as he executed on the building’s massive scale.”

Sponsored by WCAB, and financed through generous grants from Community First Credit Union and the Waupaca Area Convention & Visitors Bureau Tourism Development committee, the Union Street Mural came to life through the

efforts of a collaborative committee organized by WCAB. The committee, comprised of WCAB members, city officials, and several Downtown merchants, reviewed the work of many area mural artists before settling on Mr. Larson as their first choice.

“Selecting an artist whose style matched our community and my building, was the hardest part,” said Antiques on Main Building owner Mona Bureau. “But, when we saw Leif’s other work in the region, he was our unanimous first choice.”

Mr. Larson’s work on the wall was entirely hand drawn, without using any type of projection. He called this opening technique his coloring book stage.

“I used the exact same brushes I use to make my paintings in the studio, and also one 1.5-inch cut brush,” Mr. Larson said. “It visually reads like a painting with its marks, giving the mural good clarity from up close, and making the walk from one end to the other even more engaging. It’s also very readable from far away too. It’s massive but feels smaller because of how I’ve managed the space.”

Explaining how he managed the scale, Mr. Larson said, “The photos and video don’t do it a justice.

It’s the scale and details that make seeing this mural in the flesh such an immediate and fun experience. Because of its scale, you feel like you’re actually in the painting’s narrative as you walk down the sidewalk.”

While he worked from Sept. 22 to Oct. 13, the Waupaca community responded by creating a lunch Meal Train for him, and randomly stopping by with treats, coffee, and enthusiastic support. Honking car horns and shouts of, “I love it! Thank you!” were common. Mr. Larson’s kind manner, and his love of people endeared him to everyone who met him.

Because of these interactions, many of the details Mr. Larson saw daily in Waupaca and on his drive to and from Oshkosh found their way onto the mural.

Mr. Larson began his public art murals in 2010. He said he loves working with communities to bring public art to their downtown areas. His intent is to make public art murals that universally relate to human beings, but which also celebrate the intangibles of the host community.

The last two murals he completed were in Little Chute, and on the New Moon Café in Oshkosh. However, Mr. Larson said the Waupaca Union Street Mural is his most ambitious mural to date.