A downtown Sidney facade is getting a facelift, thanks to a local artist.
Keiko Howard, a Sidney Center resident and painter known professionally as Keiko M.H., is working on a floral mural on the side of the Sidney Flowers & Gifts building, 67 Main St. She also finished painting floral detailing on the storefront earlier this month.
Store owner Sandy Wagner said the paintings were inspired by a Sidney resident and mutual connection.
“Rich (Lomnicki) comes in and he’s ordered flowers from us … and is friends with Keiko, and he was like ‘Hey, what do you think about a mural on the side of the building,’” she said. “And I thought it was a really cool idea. We walked out front and said, ‘You know what would be really awesome? Flowers.’ She was just so pumped, and we looked at pictures online and she painted it. It’s gorgeous, and now the side of the building is hers … and it’s coming out so nice.”
Howard, a native of Japan, said the mural “is for everybody.”
“That’s the idea, to get more people using and enjoying Main Street,” she said. “You can’t really see it from driving … but I want people to get out and walk. People say, ‘Oh, I enjoy this’ … then maybe they peek into the businesses, and that’s the idea.”
Howard, who will have a solo show at Bright Hill Press’ Word & Image Gallery in Treadwell in October, said she got her start painting locally in Bainbridge, after studying art in college.
“It was the canoe regatta, painting on an Adirondack chair during COVID,” she said. “After college, I’d stopped (painting), with marriage and family, so, bad or good, (COVID) was good for me, to have that break from work and take out my paints from college. I enjoy it, and it felt really good that somebody bought my (regatta) chair, then the Bainbridge Arts Council asked if I might do a show and I thought, ‘I should continue.’ I decided, ‘I am going to do this,’ but I wanted to tie it together with the community more. I attended grant meetings, to see what’s out there for artist people, and started connecting the dots of local artists.”
She said she painted her first mural three years ago in Sidney Center.
“I was asked to do one of the panels at the Sidney Center Park and that was the biggest thing I had done in public,” she said. “Since then, I wanted to do it.”
The mural at Sidney Flowers & Gifts, she said, will likely be finished later this month. She is using mural-specific paints from Golden Artist Colors in New Berlin.
“I do research before a project, because I want it to be the best,” she said. “I have a pride for what I do. I want (Wagner) to enjoy it. It’s not my art; I wanted to do it for her and the community.”
The mural features red hibiscus flowers, Wagner’s favorite, and a hummingbird against a black-and-green background.
“We have such long winters, that I wanted to have the green,” Howard said. “Right now, it’s nice, but we have almost six months of winter, so that’s the idea with the green. And the hummingbird … feels almost like a miracle, or fortune, when you see them by a flower, and I feel good when I work on Main Street.”
Wagner and Howard. said community members have been appreciative of the project, with it inspiring others.
“I enjoy talking to the people and I get good compliments,” Howard said. “The next project will be on the corner (of a neighboring downtown building) … and other stores are asking me to do it. People are watching.
“Nobody was taking care of storefronts, and it’s hard, after two floods really destroyed things and they’re saving (for repairs),” she continued. “Art is extra.”
“We started posting pictures on Facebook, saying, ‘stay tuned,’ and it’s been overwhelmingly positive and everybody’s been really supportive,” Wagner said. “She’s working on the big one now … and it’s absolutely gorgeous and she’s just so excited. There’s more people and other businesses that have talked to her about painting murals. Everybody comments about how it’s nice to see businesses dressing up the buildings, and I absolutely love the idea that my flower shop has flowers on it. It just brings so much character to the business and the building.”
For more information on Keiko M.H.’s solo show, Oct. 11 through Nov. 8, visit brighthillpress.org. Also, view her work and learn more at keiko-mh.com.