March 28, 2024

‘Digging Newton’ mural established through community effort

Fossils, a buffalo horn, sea shells and a cast of the Jasper County Courthouse are just a few clay tiles that can be found on a recently established mural located on the Forbes Office Solutions building in downtown Newton. An art project that was intended for local fifth and sixth graders expanded to a community-wide event reaching six area towns.

The project was made possible with a partial grant from the Grinnell Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, donations from the Mary Homeier Memorial Fund, the Wilma Bucklin Memorial Fund and the Janette Pierce Memorial Fund.

“It all started because there was a grant opportunity,” executive director of the Centre for Arts and Artists Linda Klepinger said. “The Grinnell Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution meet here once a month and one of them had suggested that there was a national grant available.”

Klepinger said they were going to center the project around fifth and sixth graders at Berg Middle School and when it became tougher than expected for just the students to create clay tiles, the project became much larger.

“Where we were hoping to put the mural the building owner declined,” Klepinger said. “Then Newton Main Street contacted us, and they wanted to see if there was a way that the waffle siding could be covered on the Forbes building.”

Klepinger said the structure of the building’s east side had to be reconstructed by the foreman of the project, Rick Stewart. Each tile weighed six pounds and were made of GFRC, a concrete product mixed with fiberglass for added strength.

“Forbes was gracious enough to go with our proposal,” Klepinger said. “The contributors have been such a cross-section of more than 140 people and hands on labor — it also was made possible through several grants and several memorials from former Jasper County residents.”

Klepinger said Mary Homeier was a many, many year fixture of downtown Newton, and when she passed away a few years ago there was a memorial left in her name by her niece.

“We just kept thinking what would be appropriate, well Mary Homeier loved being downtown and she would walk downtown every day,” Klepinger said. “She would’ve loved this and she would’ve been there every single day checking on it.”

Klepinger said Homeier was also one of the last artists in Jasper County to paint en plein air besides Laura Lengeling.

Now “Digging Newton,” a 14-by-18 foot mural, catches the eyes of passerbys. The 210 tiles represent the roots of the community and show approximately four periods of fossils and artifacts.

The Central College Media Relations Class also played a huge role in establishing the mural. Klepinger said they work closely with the college, and students were assigned to take on the project by contacting students, volunteers and teachers.

“I think this is what’s key, you got a mural that takes you through time fossil wise from when Iowa was under water and then as you go up, you get closer to present day fossils that might be found,” Klepinger said. “Our Jasper County Courthouse is on the historic registry and we wanted to incorporate that.”

The courthouse was constructed by locals Kris Simbro and Jerry Kingery.

Contact Kayla Singletary at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or ksingletary@newtondailynews.com