The mural depicting Piqua’s early native American history is located at 101 East High Street. The building is owned by Brian Quinter of Quint Creative Signs.
The mural depicts a member of one of the Ohio Woodlands tribes from the Piqua area, alongside a scene from the Miami-Erie Canal.
It was extremely important to Mainstreet Piqua that we portrayed the Indigenous Person accurately and respectfully. We began by consulting with local historians and with Andy Hite from the Johnston Farm – which houses extensive Ohio tribal collections and archives.
After these resources had fully vetted the graphic, Hite sent it to the Eastern Shawnee Tribal Cultural Officers for their feedback. The Tribal Officers approved it as correctly reflecting the traditional appearance of a member of the Ohio Woodland tribes. According to Hite, “We need to respect the traditions and the image we portray of our Indigenous People. I feel confident that we’ve done that in this case. The image absolutely honors our area’s heritage and rich history.”
The artist, Eric Henn, is based in Franklin, just south of Dayton. Henn began prepping the 20 by 80 foot second-story area in May.
“This is a great little town,” Henn said. “I grew up in a small town like this.”
Henn’s artistic career began with painting surfboards and T-shirts in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Since then, the scale of his work has grown to include decorating water towers, industrial tanks and feature walls at malls and amusement parks internationally. “I’ve worked from Los Angeles to Australia,” he noted. Locally, his work can be found on Marathon tanks in Findlay, at Flag City, U.S.A., and in murals in Miamisburg and Franklin.
Several local foundations and individuals funded the project. Mainstreet Piqua is extremely thankful for the amount of community support we received. We also were able to use funds from our ongoing beautification program.
Contributors for this project include: Miami County Foundation, George B. Quatman Foundation, Hartzell-Norris Charitable Trust, and the Niels & Ruth Lundgard Foundation.
For more about Henn and his work, check out his Facebook page, Eric Henn Murals, or his website at www.erichennmurals.com.