Winter Mural

Ohio History

Winter in the Alps

Here's another of Tom Miller's murals in Sugarcreek. This one was on the local hardware storefront if I remember correctly. Did you spot the ponies in the background hauling a wagon of logs? An animated feature, they 'trotted' all the way along the snow ridge and disappeared to circle around again. Believe me, I even got a movie on my camera of them!

Tom Miller became prolific with his murals and adorned many buildings, both inside and out. Well-known mural sites include Heini's in Bunker Hill, the Walnut Creek Der Dutchman, Charm's Guggisberg Cheese, Lehman Hardware in Kidron, and even an Amish dairy in Indiana. Animated features range trains, horses with wagons, and a herd of Swiss dairy cows to skiers and even snowmobiles! His largest indoor mural was in Grandma's Alpine Homestead, filling most of the walls and even the ceiling of the restaurant. What an amazing painter!

Sugarcreek Murals

Ohio History

Bank Mural

Let's have a quick stop in Sugarcreek, a few miles east of Berlin, before concluding our trip. My favorite attraction in the little town also features a bit of history: the storefront murals. The one above is on the bank downtown. The scene from the Swiss Alps is complete with an tiny animated train chugging in and out of a mountain tunnel. Can you spot it on the left?

This is just one of the murals painted by native Ohioan Tom Miller. In fact, he spent his entire life in the Walnut Creek area (in Holmes County). After starting a successful interior decorating business in the early 1950s, Tom Miller was able to pursue his dream of bringing Switzerland into Sugarcreek, which had an ethnic Swiss heritage. Inspired by a trip to Switzerland, he painted his own storefront and was soon adorning many Sugarcreek business fronts with Swiss scenes. Most of his murals were painted during the 1970s and 80s.

More Scenery

Ohio History 

Fish Pond Shed

Here is the little maintenance shed that seems to keep watch over the fish ponds. I have always loved its red trim and overhanging roof. In fact, I confess to painting more than one canvas with scenes from the ponds. They change so much with the seasons, weather, and even angle of view, I think there is no end to the pictures one could paint! Click the links to see the paintings I've already featured...I can asure you more will be coming!

Mud Valley Reflection

Forest Fire

Autumn Pastorale

I love to take pictures with that brilliant sunshine...sometimes though the picture just can't capture it all.

Sunburst

Amish Pond

Ohio History

Fish Pond

History aside, the gently rolling hills and quaint farms do create countless picturesque scenes in Holmes County. We couldn't resist stopping for a few pictures, especially with the brilliantly sunny spring day. And especially just up the road from where we lived up here for a short time! You may be surprised to know that this is one of three ponds along this road specially maintained for raising fish. We affectionately called them the fish ponds. We loved to watch the Amish farmer who cared for them walking out in the evening to sprinkle food in for the fish. The water surface suddenly came to life with splashing ripples!

Forging a Keepsake

Ohio History

Imprinting a Design

Well, now that you've heard all about the forging process, how would you like to watch me make something? I'm serious! Although a bit simpler process, for a very small fee visitors could make their own molded aluminum artwork. First, I chose a picture from a number of metal templates (dies, I suppose they would be called). I took a piece of thin aluminum, almost like foil but thicker, and taped it down on top. It sure took a lot of pounding with the hammer to get the picture imprinted onto the aluminum! The harder I pounded, the sharper the design became. I think it came out very nice! There were even mats available to display the finished picture. What do you think?

Barn-Raising

Forging Process

Ohio History



Making a Coaster

Just what goes into the process of turning a lump of aluminum into a shiny, intricately-carved coaster? It was all spelled out in this display at the Forge. We start in the lower left-hand corner, where a craftsman cuts a 3x8-foot flat sheet of aluminum into small pieces. A steel die design is imprinted onto each piece by an air-driven hammer. The pieces get so stretched they have to be reshaped by another hammer. Next, a coloring solution is applied to turn the whole picture black (lower right corner) and then buffed off with steel wool so only the details are offset by black (middle lefthand sample).

 

After that's done, the pieces are cut into their final shapes and the edges are hammered flat and smooth. Finally, moving to the top row, the pieces are shaped into nice curved coasters. After being polished and wrapped in plastic, these coasters are ready for sale.

Wendell August Forge

Ohio History

Blacksmith Shop

Stay in the same historical era with me for just another minute and we'll go a few miles from Behalt. Wendell August Forge, one of the country's oldest and largest forges, was established in 1923 by (you guessed it!) Wendell McMinn August. He employed the skills of several blacksmiths who worked in his Pennsylvania coal mine, to create decorative ironware for residential and commercial use. A successful contract in 1928 with a Columbus bank prompted Wendell August Forge to relocate in Grove City, Ohio. The business prospered and eventually spread to four locations in Ohio and Pennsylvania, including the one we visited in Holmes County.

The Forge was an industry leader in the art of forging aluminum, which was growing in demand at that time. Everything from decorative elevator gates to Christmas tree ornaments could be forged from the versatile aluminum. Wendell August did just that and more, creating jewelry, collectors' plates, bowls, fireplace andirons, vases, candlesticks, doorknockers, and more. Above are just a few of the detailed plates we marveled at, featuring detailed city scenes.

Paint Palette

Ohio History 

Paint Palette from Behalt

Can you imagine using a mess like this to create the beautiful pictures in my last post? That's what the Behalt artist, Heinz Gaugel, did. Well, he'd already had a lot of practice. Born in the German Alps in 1927, he moved to Canada in 1951 to begin his self-taught artistic career. Mr. Gaugel created ceramic, stained glass, fresco, and painted art for both public and private buildings and churches.

That all changed in 1962 with his first visit to Holmes County, Ohio. After hearing an Amish blacksmith's wish for a place where tourists could find out why the Amish live the way they do, Heinz Gaugel began detailed research into Anabaptist history. Painting commenced in 1978 in his private workshop, until 1989 when the partly finished mural was moved to the Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center. Visitors could watched Behalt's progress until 1992 when Mr. Gaugel completed the massive canvas cyclorama, a complete circle measuring 265 feet in diameter.

Sgraffito - German Immigrants

The outside of the museum had another larger-than-life depiction, though much smaller than the mural. Immigrants' Arrival in the New World was also created by Heinz Gaugel using a technique of reverse art called sgraffito. First layers of contrasting colors of plaster are applied to the surface, and then carefully scratched off to create the picture. I'd never seen anything like it!

Behalt Murals

Ohio History

Behalt Scenes

Here are a few close-ups from just a small area of the mural. The number of figures and scenes packed into the painting was simply amazing! The pictorial story began in Zurich, Switzerland in 1525 where the Anabaptist movement originated, in the context the Roman Catholic Church and the developing Reformation. Important leaders and events in Anabaptist history were then depicted, leading to the emergence of the Mennonites, Amish, and Hutterites. Can you pick out all three in the scene pictured above?

Era of Conflict

The pictures simply flowed into each other as though geometric shapes of color had been laid overlapping across the scenes. In fact, the colors actually symbolized different eras of history--red during times of persecution, blue to show peace, yellow for excitement. We learned that the artist made initial charcoal sketches of the scenes before using brilliant oil paints on these enormous canvases. More on the artist in my next post!