More colorful paintings invade Imperial art park

    Color continues to invade Imperial’s art park along West 7th Street and Broadway.
    After the painting by Jolt of Golden, Colorado was completed earlier this month, two more artists, one an Imperial native, finished their paintings at the site this week.
    Omaha artist Oria Simonini and Imperial native Nicki Boardman battled last week’s heat but finished striking paintings on two of the west-facing wall sections.
    Simonini, a 2018 University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate who earned a BFA in art, painted a design “loosely based on the Three Sisters legend,” she said.
    The Three Sisters (corn, beans and squash) have been planted by traditional Native American gardeners in different regions of North America, according to an article on the website of Northeastern State University in Oklahoma.
    Agriculturists today know it as the genius of the Indians, who interplanted pole beans and squash with corn, using the strength of the sturdy corn stalks to support the twining beans and the shade of the spreading squash vines to trap moisture for the growing crops.
    Simonini said she liked the Three Sisters idea for her painting here, knowing of the area’s agricultural base. And, just like the Three Sisters, a community also relies on each other to thrive.
    Three female figures are predominant in her painting.
    Simonini arrived in Imperial June 20, and started painting the next day. She planned to finish up early this week.
    In Omaha, she works as an artist, teaches classes and does “a little bit of everything,” she said.
    Boardman returned to paint one section of a wall at the request of Jo Leyland, City Clerk/Administrator. Leyland works closely with her dad, councilman Doug Gaswick.
    While her colorful pair of butterflies encompasses a smaller area than Simonini’s, the colors are just as eye-catching.
    She started her painting on June 21 and finished it Friday.
    She did double duty while here, also volunteering at last week’s SCORE camp.
    Boardman and her husband live near Stillwater, Oklahoma, where she is a data engineer with a startup company in San Francisco, TRM Labs. She works remotely.
    Much more is planned as the art park develops just west of the Imperial police station in an empty lot.
    Paintings are planned for all of the walls in the area, including work to come from Chase County Schools art teacher Chelsea Zuege and potentially, some of her art students.
    A gazebo created from railroad ties is in place at the site. Some of the other art park plans include raised flower beds, shade structures and used couches that will be covered with painted tiles made by people of all ages.
    Artificial grass will cover the art park surface, and city crews were working on that this week. Like much of the emphasis for the park, the grass is being repurposed after previously covering an athletic field in Texas. The grass was originally made from recycled materials.
    Major funding for the project came from a $15,000 AARP grant, as well as $10,000 from the Imperial Community Foundation Fund and a $7,500 matching grant from the Nebraska Community Foundation. Waypoint Bank donated $1,000.
    Imperial Community Development Director Tyler Pribbeno is coordinating the art park’s development.