“The Landmark Mural” sits just inside the Jasper County Historical Museum off the lobby. It is another beautiful sculpture by Herman L. Deaton that we’re lucky enough to have grace our community. Mr. Deaton’s newest sculpture in Newton is the bronze “Edna, Before Maytag” located at the U.S. Bank Plaza. At first glance, “The Landmark Mural” also looks like a bronze sculpture. But alas, don’t judge a book (or sculpture in this instance) by its cover. You’ll learn more about this as you read on — in the fourth paragraph to be exact. This mural is incredibly creative, and you can see a great amount of thought and research went into this piece.
First a little history: The planning was started in 1979 for a major exhibit to illustrate how the natural resources found in Jasper County were used by the various people that have lived here to make their livelihood. It was decided to fabricate a three-dimensional mural that would start with the Native Americans about a thousand years ago, then progress through the pioneers and settlers to the present time. The sculptured portion of the mural took more than 3,600 hours to plan, fabricate and finish. That does not include the cabinetry construction by a carpenter, or the electrical work by an electrician. It also does not include the eight feet at the far end of a painting that illustrates the future. After construction of the cabinetry by a carpenter and an electrician, work on the mural itself started in 1980. It took seven years to complete, with Mr. Deaton working in the afternoons on a part-time basis after doing his regular studio work.
The mural is a curved panorama sculpted in bas-relief except for the end section. This section is the painting (also more on this as you read ahead). The mural was modeled in clay in place at the museum on removable vertical panels. Three or four panels of the 15 were modeled at a time; and when a unit (4 total) was finished the individual panels were cut apart and taken to the artist’s studio where employees were used to mold and case the clay panels into a permanent laminated fiberglass medium. The panels were then cleaned, repaired if necessary, and then bronze-toned (see bronze-toned, not a bronze sculpture). Then back to the museum the panels would go to be assembled in their proper place in the exhibit cabinetry.
The natural resources illustrated in the mural include stone, clay, wood, wild plants and animals, water, soil, coal, wind and mineral water. A couple of schools, some restaurants and the courthouse are shown to illustrate the dramatic shift from natural resources for self-sufficiency to one of providing services to other people. Service people neither live off the land nor provide a product, but what they do provide is often quite essential. The list of service careers is long; a lot of which are in the tourism industry in our community, such as food service, hotels, attractions such as the Jasper County Historical Museum, retail, etc. Ooops, I’ve been side-tracked back to my real job of promoting tourism. Sorry about that ... on with “The Landmark Mural”.
Moving on to the last phase in the exhibit — The Future. Here we find a painting rather than sculpture. At the time of the completion of the mural the future was speculated on and painted by artist, Blaine Haunsperger. He envisioned what local natural resources we may be able to return to some day; including one that is woefully underused today — the wind. Hmmmm, seems he was spot on! The future also shows the transportation to be a bullet train, a modern aircraft and computer-controlled highway vehicles. Outdoor leisure activity completes the picture. Those activities don’t include a racetrack, but resembles the scene at the beginning of the mural of family friendly outdoor activities much the same as it could have been a thousand years ago as a way of life; now, and hopefully in the future it will remain recreation.
“The Landmark Mural” is not the only sculpture at the Jasper County Historical Museum. You’ll also find the “Soldiers to Soldiers 1945 — Friends to Friends 2010” limestone sculpture; the “Princeton Tiger” bronze and the “Indian Maiden and Fawn” yellow-leaded brass sculptures. Stop by the Jasper County Historical Museum for yourself and check out the beautiful sculptures; along with all the other displays both inside the museum and barn. They are open daily from noon to 5 p.m. through September.