Artist Christopher Santer works on a section of the Parkersburg Floodwall Mural project. He is doing a representation of a photo of workers on the clock face of the old Parkersburg City Building when the building was about to be taken down in the late 1970s-early 1980s. Five sections of the mural project are expected to be done this summer by four artists with Santer doing two sections. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

PARKERSBURG — Work is continuing on the flood wall mural as artists are working on creating images that tie into the history of the area.

This is the fourth year of the project with the work in “Phase 4” which will include five sections of the wall done by four artists, said Edward Escandon, a representative from the Floodwall Mural Committee.

The artists include Christopher Santer, Emma Romanowski, Paul Mullins and Belinda Armstrong.

“Most of it will be happening this month,” he said. “We may be going into early August.

“This month will definitely have the most action.”

Escandon is encouraging people to come down and take a look at the work as well as take advantage of the new Parkersburg Ohio River Trail which follows the floodwall along the Ohio River.

He believes there are more sections of the wall which could eventually support more murals in the future and enhance that trail.

“For people who haven’t seen it before, the size of it doesn’t really hit you until you are standing in front of it.”

Santer was at the wall on Tuesday doing some work on his next part of the project, which includes two sections of the space.

In one section he is doing a mural of workers on the clock face of the old Parkersburg City Building when the building was about to be taken down in the late 1970s-early 1980s.

“Sadly, the workers are actually removing the clock,” Santer said. “It is such a dramatic scene of these local workers and the old city building.”

Because of the contour of the wall, this section lends itself to have two sections. In the smaller section he is planning to do a portrait of the old Parkersburg City Building.

“I’m doing that, in part, because of this disruptive seam and I decided to split this into a one-third and two-third sections,” Santer said.

Rather than have the section look off with one piece, he decided to break it up into two sections that tied together in its theme.

Outside of the Wood County Courthouse, Santer said the old city building was a “landmark building” for Parkersburg.

“Some would say the courthouse, but I think the old city building was such a standout structure so I want to immortalize it here too and it will be a nice postcard portrait of it,” he said.

His other section of the wall will be a representation of a photo, taken from Fort Boreman Hill, of the Wright Brothers plane banking over the city in 1910.

He is also planning to do some work on parts of the mural representing the piers of the railroad bridge which are used to frame each section.

“I am here for the whole month of July,” Santer said. “Within the month I will have these two done. And whatever else I am going to finish up with the bridge.

“Along with the three other artists, we should have them done this summer.”

Mullins’ section will be a scene of the Point from the river from a time when it was a port for industry with sternwheelers around the turn of the 20th Century to the 1920s. The sternwheel ship that was docked in the photo Mullins will be working from was called the “Parkersburg.”

Romanowski will be doing the old iron staircase from the old Parkersburg Carnegie Library.

Armstrong will be doing a scene of Terrapin Park with a trolley going up the hill.

A section further down the wall has scenes of mountains.

“If we keep raising more money, Phase 5 will connect the bridge to the mountains,” Santer said.

The City of Parkersburg is receiving a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to finish this part of the project, Escandon said.

The Floodwall has recently become a canvas on which the story of the city and the state of West Virginia are told. The 25,000 square feet of mural space is being completed in several phases, and this award will help to cover the costs of artist compensation, paint, and supplies.

Escandon said the city and Downtown PKB put up the money to allow the project to continue and they will be reimbursed when the grant is received.

“It was great,” he said. “It has allowed the artists to be able to continue to paint this summer.”

He thanked Mayor Tom Joyce, Development Director Ryan Barber and the officials with Downtown PKB for making it happen.

Santer said if fundraising can continue, they can connect the mountains part of the mural to the train bridge part of the mural which would encompass Phase 5 of the project. On the other side of the mountains, they are planning to have the sheet music for “Almost Heaven West Virginia.”

“The original plan was to have that music staff morph into the mountains and the mountains slowly become the bridge so it all connects,” he said.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com