“After the Flood” Mural Still Needs a Home

CEDAR RAPIDS - Two Augusts ago, as the ever popular farmers market commenced in Greene Square Park, a group of volunteers showed their support for rebuilding downtown Cedar Rapids by painting a 38-foot-wide mural. It would hang along Third Street SE near Fourth Avenue, just north of the New Bo business district.

Now, the mural is gone, victim of the deteriorating billboard it was mounted on.

That saddens Rita Svoboda Tomanek, 70, of Iowa City. Not only did Rita design the mural and coordinate painting, she grew up in Cedar Rapids walking through the New Bo district on her way to school at St. Wenceslaus.

Rita is also frustrated. She has approached several groups, from the city's visual arts commission to the Downtown Economic Alliance, all of whom encourage her to pursue her quest to re-erect the mural. But she's been unable to find anyone to foot the bill. She's approached officials with the NewBo City Market, but isn't overly optimistic.

"I'd love to see it there because it was done by farmers market people," Rita says. "If it can't go there, it should go somewhere. Any of the buildings on the mural would be a good place for it."

The mural - 10 feet tall and 38 feet wide - depicts the central business district from Quaker Oats to New Bo. It includes old buildings, such as the Louis Sullivan-designed bank on the west side of the Cedar River to the Carnegie Library turned art museum on the east side. It includes new buildings, from the library under construction near Greene Square Park to the Federal Courthouse. Flowing through the mural is the Cedar River, raging at flood stage, while above it a rainbow of colors represents hope. Freedom Festival fireworks explode as community workers from all walks of life watch.

The mural materialized as downtown rebuilding efforts got under way. Michael Johnson, a student at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, saw one of Rita's paintings at a Mount Vernon art gallery and got the ball rolling. Soon she was designing this mural with backing from others including the former Downtown District, the Greater Cedar Rapids Foundation and Legion Arts, which let her use space to prepare the mural.

Set up in a huge "paint-by-number" format, the 15 plywood panels were laid out at Greene Square Park during a farmers market in early August, 2010, with visitors invited to pick up a brush.

"We were down there supervising everybody from 2-year-olds to 80-year-olds," Rita says. "This was created by the people."

That's the main reason Rita first expressed her concern to me last March when the mural was removed. Its pieces were saved, stored in the Armstrong Centre and basically given to Rita along with the responsibility to find a new home.

"I'd offer to donate it to someone, but I can't pay for installation," she says. "I would be willing to touch it up, which it will probably need since it's been moved."

If you've got an idea, let me know. I'll pass it on to Rita.

"It was only up for 19 months," says Rita, who put more than 300 hours into the project and was paid $300. "It was a labor of love. This was my town. I grew up in it. I wanted to do something important after the flood."