Sisseton, South Dakota, USA

Defining Main Street: The Insurance Office. Again, let's not ignore the more mundane: establishments like the insurance office. And, humor always helps to attract attention. What other elements of Main Street culture might also be over looked? Attorneys? Funeral homes? [2007]

Ramona, California, USA

Defining Main Street: The Real Estate Office. As we review of the elements of Main Street, let's not ignore the more mundane: establishments like the real estate office. There when you need it, invisible when you don't. [2013]

Danville, Illinois, USA

Defining Main Street: The Fire Station. When we fall in love with a main street archtype and love services it performs, it is hard to cast it on the dumpheap of history. Fire houses, for instance, are often converted to other uses, turned into museums, or simply preserved for their exterior delights. [2015]

Farmland, Indiana, USA

Welcome to cognitive dissonance. Farmland is located in the North American Corn Belt. But, the grain elevator rising above Main Street just screams Wheat Belt, and the mural suggests there might just be a Tomato Belt somewhere nearby. [2018]

Evansville, Indiana, USA

Joy to the world of Evansville, with its clear focus on the place name, which is written uphill. Graphologists tell us an uphill slant is a sign of optimism. Murals that boldly incorporate the town name into the visuals have become a hallmark of the 21st century. Another contemporary hallmark: muralizing a wall even if it has windows. [2022]

Newport, Kentucky, USA

Joy to the world of Newport, with one wall devoted to promoting the name of the town. Instead of pictorial icons, it establishes "on the levee" as the most place-defining characteristic of the town. As for the other wall, its purpose is entirely different. [2022]

Gaffney, South Carolina, USA

Joy to the world of Gaffney, with its nod to the first inhabitants, its role as county seat, its preference for patriots, its reputation for the best peaches anywhere, and the town's name itself. The images are all carefully-chosen icons that establish Gaffney's brand. Think of each one as an app, an invitation to find out more. [2022]

Lumberton, North Carolina, USA

Joy to the world of Lumberton, with its low-country swamps, Venus fly traps, great blue herons, butterflies, and day lilies. How's that for a place-defining mural? What's trending right now though is the place name in big, bold letters. [2022]

Gate City, Virginia, USA

Do the eye-catchers on Pal's count as mural art? The main menu items seem designed to turn empty wall space into a useful Roadside-America commercial. How many bas-relief murals have you seen? [2012]

Marysville, Kansas, USA

It's proclaimed as Pony Express Home Station No. 1, but it was originally a barn and blacksmith shop. There were 40 home stations along the route, which stretched from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento. The Pony Express was designed to deliver the mail over long distances, but it was very soon outmoded by the telegraph. [2009]

Redfield, South Dakota, USA

It's the middle of pheasant season in South Dakota, a late fall and winter ritual that deserves to be recognized in public art. All it takes is imagination, skill, and the end of a Quonset hut-cum-barn. Redfield fancies itself as the pheasant capital of the world, and thus superior to all other pheasant capitals. [2021]

Tucson, Arizona, USA

Welcome to Geography Awareness Week: It's time to appreciate maps on the landscape! In this case, by using a map, Arizona pays homage to Texas as the home of the best barbeque anywhere, and "that aint no bull." Maps are ever popular components of mural art around the country and the world. [2018]

Tangier Island, Virginia, USA

What are the preferred modes of transit on Tangier? Walking and golf carts. In fact, there was a time when there were no motorized vehicles on the island. Today, there are quite a few utility vehicles and a car or two. You only need wheels if you are traveling to the mainland, so most islanders garage their cars in Crisfield, Maryland. [2022]

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Says Wyland: "We know now that water connects all the countries of the world… Our goal with these projects… has been to convey the urgency of conservation issues to the public. The health of our ocean and waterways are in jeopardy, not to mention the thousands of marine animals and plants that face extinction if we do nothing." [2011]

Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, USA

Berkeley Springs is one of the great arts towns of the Appalachians. So, a colorful mural is an appropriate addition to the downtown landscape. Right across the street are the springs themselves. They have been attracting visitors since colonial times. [2021]

Austin, Texas, USA

"love Yourself love the World": Make the world part and parcel of your very essence. It's your home. Just as you know every nook and cranny of the house you live in, you should know something about the nooks and crannies of the planet you live on. It may take a life time, but that's what you have: decades of learning and loving. Happy Birthday! [2009] 

Rifle, Colorado, USA

"Ride our trails": This ersatz mural is an attempt to expand the town's economic base: from cattle ranching into tourism. What's it got going for it? Scenery along the Colorado River, an extensive system of trails and parks, and access from an Interstate that leads to Denver. What works against it? A rather threatening name. [2013]

Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Pedal on, and take a friend with you. The world awaits. Visit as many countries as you can, meet as many people as you can, have as many experiences as you can. And, oh yes, don't forget to occasionally "phone home." Happy Birthday! [2022]

Milton, Kentucky, USA

Early in the history of Virginia (yes, Kentucky was part of Virginia), a town was necessary in this vicinity. That's because a connection, a ferry, was needed between the two sides of the mighty Ohio, and there was a convenient set of river terraces that gave way to towns. It wasn't long, however, until natural history, caught up with settlement history. [2022]

Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

The new John Glen mural epitomizes more than 21st-century art. It reminds us of the transition from a world of black-and-white, delivered by cathode-ray tubes, to a world of living color, now popularly symbolized by(1) tessellations and (2) radiant beams. Together, these two design elements work to deliver a high-impact wall of urban entertainment. [2022]