By Greg Chandler
Zeeland Record
The city of Zeeland has approved a second mural project in the downtown area.
The City Council on Aug. 17 approved an artwork agreement with Lansing-based artist Marissa Tawney Thaler, as well as a contract between the city and VQuest, LLC for Thaler to create her artwork at 139 E. Main Ave., within the downtown passageway.
The approval of Thaler’s mural agreement comes about five months after the council approved a similar agreement with local artist Krista Arendsen to create a mural at 122 E. Main Ave. Arendsen had painted the mural on the west-facing wall of Main Street Bicycle Co. in 2023.
“We liked her style,” city Marketing Director Abby deRoo said of Thaler’s submission. “She has some color-blocking technique that really complimented the existing mural and the committed mural that we’ve been working toward.”
Thaler’s design concept for her artwork consists of removable wood murals that will be mounted within three distinct inset sections on the west wall of the passageway, deRoo said.
“It … provides us the opportunity to rotate those pieces and introduce new art as we move into the future,” she said.
Thaler’s panels represent the seasons of Zeeland, with the largest combining spring and summer and the remaining panels depicting fall and winter as individual works, deRoo wrote in a memo to the council.
Thaler would create the art pieces in her studio and then bring them to Zeeland, as opposed to Arendsen, who will create her work on location. Both artists are expected to complete their work by the end of September in time for Pumpkinfest, deRoo said.
The city received 18 submissions to a call for artists to submit ideas for murals earlier this year as it sought to expand permanent public art throughout the downtown area.
The city budgeted $25,000 for the downtown murals in the 2025-26 budget, but none of that money was spent. It has now been transferred into the current city budget. Thaler will use $5,000 of that budgeted amount, while Arendsen’s artwork will use $14,500, deRoo said.
Zeeland Record
The city of Zeeland has approved a second mural project in the downtown area.
The City Council on Aug. 17 approved an artwork agreement with Lansing-based artist Marissa Tawney Thaler, as well as a contract between the city and VQuest, LLC for Thaler to create her artwork at 139 E. Main Ave., within the downtown passageway.
The approval of Thaler’s mural agreement comes about five months after the council approved a similar agreement with local artist Krista Arendsen to create a mural at 122 E. Main Ave. Arendsen had painted the mural on the west-facing wall of Main Street Bicycle Co. in 2023.
“We liked her style,” city Marketing Director Abby deRoo said of Thaler’s submission. “She has some color-blocking technique that really complimented the existing mural and the committed mural that we’ve been working toward.”
Thaler’s design concept for her artwork consists of removable wood murals that will be mounted within three distinct inset sections on the west wall of the passageway, deRoo said.
“It … provides us the opportunity to rotate those pieces and introduce new art as we move into the future,” she said.
Thaler’s panels represent the seasons of Zeeland, with the largest combining spring and summer and the remaining panels depicting fall and winter as individual works, deRoo wrote in a memo to the council.
Thaler would create the art pieces in her studio and then bring them to Zeeland, as opposed to Arendsen, who will create her work on location. Both artists are expected to complete their work by the end of September in time for Pumpkinfest, deRoo said.
The city received 18 submissions to a call for artists to submit ideas for murals earlier this year as it sought to expand permanent public art throughout the downtown area.
The city budgeted $25,000 for the downtown murals in the 2025-26 budget, but none of that money was spent. It has now been transferred into the current city budget. Thaler will use $5,000 of that budgeted amount, while Arendsen’s artwork will use $14,500, deRoo said.
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