New mural located inside Ashland Walmart highlights local landmarks

Shoppers at Walmart may have noticed a new splash of color. A new mural has been installed inside the grocery entrance as part of the store’s ongoing renovation.

The artist behind the mural is Amelia Kaiser, who recently moved to the Minnesota north woods from the Pacific Northwest. Kaiser was selected from a pool of artists and given just 10 days to come up with a design and create the mural. Making it more challenging, she said, was that it couldn’t be in the style of a quilt with different images patched together. It had to be one continuous image.

Using watercolors, Kaiser painted on a larger scale than she’s used to.

“This piece of was about 20 inches by 24 inches, and 16 inches by 20 inches was the largest I’ve painted in watercolor over the past year,” she said.

Calling it “good practice,” Kaiser accepted the challenge and chose to paint a popular collection of landmarks located in Ashland.

Kaiser has never been to Ashland, but one couldn’t tell based on her depiction of the ore dock, band shell and lighthouse in the distance on the waters of Lake Superior.

It didn’t take long for people to notice, as the mural has garnered lots of attention on social media. Facebook users have been complementing the new artwork in town that further establishes Ashland as the “Historic Mural Capital of Wisconsin,” according to the Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce.

“The Walmart mural is beautiful. Public art in a community is a welcoming site, and this mural tells a great story,” said chamber director Mary McPhetridge. “Ashland is the Historic Mural Capitol of Wisconsin. Adding another mural depicting our past and present is always exciting.”

From a roughly two-foot painting, Kaiser’s work was digitally blown up and greets shoppers as they enter the store.

“I’m very excited to see it blown up and installed on a wall,” she posted on Facebook while working on the mural back in March.

But Kaiser was unaware the mural had already been installed when she spoke with the Daily Press on Monday.

Excited about her latest piece, she said, “I can’t wait to see my artwork and all the sites.”