On July 17, the Eureka Illinois Rotary Club unveiled the Eureka Lake art mural, created by Fire Maple Pottery owner Ben Watson, foreground. The mural is on the north side of the new entrance sign at Eureka Lake and is a composite of hundreds of pieces of glazed tile that depict a birdseye view of the lake. (Photo by Holly Eitenmiller/for Chronicle Media)

At first glance, a tile and glass mural on the Eureka Lake entrance sign is a depiction of the lake and the land which surrounds it. On closer examination, however, there is more to meet the eye.

“You can see from way back there, what clearly looks like a lake with landscape and some trees,” explained artist Ben Watson of Fire Maple Pottery in Washington, “but when you get up close you can see a lot of details, like buildings and farms.”

Watson, a resident of Eureka, was commissioned by Eureka Rotary Club President Dawn Maloney to create the mural on the Lake Road entrance as a means of bringing art to the community. Maloney conceived of the project as the 2016 president. In 2017, the late Mark Scott served as president. Maloney resumed as club president in 2018.

Each president manages a Barrel Project, which is leveraged to create an annual project that contributes to the community. Scott’s Barrel Project was Eureka Lake Bark Park, which was completed after his death in June 2018. A tree and plaque within the dog park were dedicated to Scott.

“I knew that I wanted an art project for the community with the President’s Barrel Fund in 2016,” Maloney said. “It came up that they needed a new sign for the front entrance. The sign that was there before was just a plain wooden sign.”

Rotarians revealed the colorful mural at its monthly meeting on June 17, where Watkins explained the creation of the mural, and the elements he incorporated into it.

“We quickly realized how important the lake is to the city, and there are so many great things in this area, we wanted to encompass all of them,” Watkins said, pointing to numerous clay elements that depict local farms and buildings. “Some farms are remote, but were brought into the scope of the mosaic because they’re in Woodford County and I had to bring them in closer because they’re just beautiful.”

Watkins said he relied on satellite and aerial views of Eureka to create some of the tiles, and bring the perspective “into a small point of view.” Others, such as those representing the road, were made by pressing clay directly onto the object or surface prior to its baking. In the far, bottom right corner is a tile representing the Eureka Rotary Club.

“Some of the tiles represent plant life that was taken from the lake and pressed into the clay,” he said. “We went a little overboard, and we could have made the project much easier, but it turned out really great, and we wanted to make something that’s going to last a long time.”

Commissioned by Eureka Rotary Club President Dawn Maloney, the Eureka Lake mural depicts the lake and its surrounding landscape in a mosaic of glass and pottery fragments. Upon close inspection, many of the pieces were formed to represent specific properties and structures which are either adjacent to the lake, or very nearby. (Photo by Holly Eitenmiller/for Chronicle Media)

Before the mural work began, the old sign was removed and the curved structure was constructed. Roanoke Concrete donated the materials, Brookside Landscapes of Eureka donated the structure’s plans, as well as all the decorative plants and the planting of each. Three anonymous contractors donated labor. The only cost, Maloney said, was the artist’s commission.

“Let’s just say he gave us a very good deal,” she said of Watson’s asking price.

Once the concrete structure was in place, Watson produced a plywood template from which volunteers removed individual pieces and placed them on the wall.

“He had to wait to start until the form was built then design the pieces to fit on the curved surface,” Maloney said. “When he designed it, he had a plywood template and he designed it on six sheets of plywood, then he brought it out and we laid the pieces out on the plywood and had take it from the plywood frontwards to backwards. It was a challenge!”

A few large stones remain at the foot of the mural, and will be moved into place as seats upon which visitors may rest and enjoy the art. Maloney said she’d like to eventually see lights installed to illuminate the intricate mural.

–Eureka Rotary Club sees mural dream become reality–