The mural in downtown Crookston on the Southside of Scott’s True Value Hardware was officially finished earlier this week. The mural’s theme is diversity and unity and features six hands of different skin tones holding a piece of string to show how we are all united together.
The project was called the True Value Mural Project “Unity and Diversity” and was made possible through a grant given by The Northwest Minnesota Arts Council to Trey Everett, who painted the mural. Everett works part-time with the Northwest Minnesota Arts Council and does personal artwork on the side.
“It was a huge project with lots of challenges,” said Everett. “One of those was realizing how big it really was. I would get a hand complete and then realize there were still five more to do. In my fifties now, it did take a toll on my body, and it was hard to continue working on it.”
Everett’s goal was to initially complete the mural by Ox Cart Days a few weeks ago; however, the project was too big and needed a little more time to complete. In total, Everett says he spent over 221 hours on the project, and with a little help, the project took a total of 250 hours to complete. Everett mentioned he would often arrive early in the morning, around 5:30 a.m., to work before the heat of the day.
“I’m pleased with how it turned out,” said Everett. “It’s designed to be seen from a distance, and I think it’s a good part of the community now. It’s bright and vibrant and has a good positive vibe to it.”
There is also wording painted on the mural that Everett used to play into the theme of unity and diversity. Initially, Everett was going to have words that display those two characteristics but changed course halfway through the project to make it more about the area Crookston is located in. “I kept holding it lightly as to what I was going to do with it,” said Everett. “The more I worked on it and was thinking about it; I wanted it to be more timeless. I just wanted to use words describing the natural landscape in this area.”
Everett also kept the idea of using words to display unity and diversity and even wrote the word unity on the mural in the following ten languages. Spanish, Michif, Ojibwe, French, Korean, Italian, Hindi, Norwegian, Hawaiian, and English.
The mural is located on the south side of Scott’s True Value Hardware Store in Downtown Crookston and represents unity during diversity.
