Health Department mural celebrates Greene County
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Community Engagement Specialist Amanda McKinley works on the mural in the hallway of the Greene County Health Department. The mural depicts life and community in Greene County. (Carmen Ensinger/Greene Prairie Press)
By Carmen Ensinger
When the Greene County Health Department hired their newest employee, they had no idea they were getting a very talented artist as well.
Amanda McKinley became a part of the Health Department team in November when she was hired to be the new Community Engagement Specialist. Public Health Administrator Molly Peters explained why this position is so important.
“The health department is really considered a resource, so when someone calls us and says they are looking for housing or a warming center or recovery support, we now have someone on staff that can directly identify that for the community.” Peters said. “As a Community Engagement Specialist, her role is basically outreach to connect us to the community because we have an abundance of resources that we will now be able to share with someone on staff in this role.”
But being hired in the middle of winter doesn’t give one a lot of opportunities to get out and about in the community to let others know about all of these resources so while Peters and McKinley were brainstorming, the subject of McKinley’s artistic prowess came up.
“Whenever we were discussing cool things that we could do for the health department, Molly mentioned that she saw a mural that had inspired her in Palmyra,” McKinley said. “She asked me if I thought I could do something like that here in the building and I said absolutely.”
A mural inside an office? Why, one might ask. Peters has a simple answer.
“I think it is more that we wanted to bring that community aspect into our office for everyone who comes in here to see,” she said. “Because all of our group and the team is just very community oriented and we want to have that effect on the community. So, being inspired by all of the great things in the community as we walk through the door just really unites us together.”
In actuality, the mural is the community.
“I told Amanda that I wanted people to identify with things in the mural,” Peters said. “Because that is what the health department is – we are a resource for connecting ourselves to the state, to the community in general and advocating for the needs of our community so it is very important that we have people who are passionate about the community and we bring each community need into our office.”
McKinley said a lot of thought went into what they wanted to represent within the mural.
“What we really wanted to do was represent things which brought people together in the county,” McKinley said. “Things such as the fair, the Friday night football games, the pool – I wanted all of those things represented because we have a community that brings people together. Our county relies on each other and that is what makes us strong – what makes our community.”
Each letter of the county contains different aspects of the county. For example, the “N” represents the sporting and educational aspect of the community. In addition to the mascots of each of the schools, it also contains a football field, football, baseball, volleyball and basketball along with some school books. One of the “E”’s contains the courthouse.
The large outer area represents a myriad of different things.
“Agriculture is huge in this county and we have a huge farming community so that is represented,” McKinley said. “A lot of people in this county like to hunt and fish in this county so that is represented. We also have the pumpkin patch which is hugely popular.”
Remarkably, McKinley has had no formal artistic training.
“I’m going to say that what I have is a God given talent because I don’t believe you can study or train to be an artist – it has to be inside of you,” she said. “I’ve never had any formal training at all, but I’ve enjoyed painting since I was a child.”
McKinley recalls spending a lot of time with her aunt as a child which helped develop her love of art.
“We would sit in front of the TV and she loved to watch Bob Ross (the painter) and I guess he gave me the idea,” McKinley said. “I think I did my first oil painting when I was like eight.”
The mural is seven foot high by 10 foot wide and McKinley has been working on it for approximately two months. While that might seem like a long time, McKinley explains that an artist doesn’t just “slap the paint on the canvas.”
“A lot of people think you can just get up, go in and slap the paint on and the picture is going to pop out,” she said. “It doesn’t work that way. Every painting is built – layer by layer. You cannot force it. And if you are not in the mood, you can’t do it. The inspiration has to be there or you can’t do it. Much like a writer staring at a blank piece of paper. You have to be inspired before you can create and some days it just isn’t there.”
McKinley said it has been fun to work on the mural.
“It has been a total joy to me to see people coming down the hall going ‘oh my gosh’ because they see something different,” she said. “In the end, it might be something like Where is Waldo.”
Peters is thrilled that her staff are finding the mural so enjoyable.
“We started the mural to make sure that our staff felt valued,” Peters said. “Bringing that community aspect to the forefront will help us drive our passion too.”
