READ THIS ARTICLE ABOUT A MAJOR ARTWORK: CLICK  SHOWING LINCOLN HISTORY AND THAT OF SPRINGFIELD. BUT WHERE ARE THE ORIGINAL PAINTING AND THE DOWNSIZED COMPUTER-RENDERED VERSION OF IT NOW? AND CONSIDER THE OTHER ELEMENTS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN INCLUDED IN THE MURAL.

Canton Daily Ledger
October 1, 2012

Welch Mural displayed at Lewistown Visitors Center

— by Larry Eskridge

A large scale reproduction of a mural painted by Smithfield native and Fulton County artist, Harold Kee Welch (1905-1972) is now [2012] on display at the Lewistown and Fulton County Visitors Center, located at 218 South Main Street in Lewistown.

The mural, reproduced at 8.5 feet tall and 36 feet wide, is a downsized version of Welch’s largest piece of artwork (16′ x 70′) which once adorned a wall of the former First National Bank of Springfield.

The Welch family salvaged the mural when the bank underwent renovation several years ago, stored it, and had been looking for a home for it ever since. Due to its monumental size, finding a home for the original to be on public view has not been possible. Due to modern technology, the city of Lewistown, working with Dickson Mounds Museum, created a digital version which could be down-sized, printed on canvas, and mounted.

“We are very pleased to announce that it can once again be enjoyed by the public,” said Amanda Woodruff, VISTA volunteer.

Earlier this year the city of Lewistown contacted Mrs. Rita Welch at her home in Smithfield and inquired about the mural.

“Mayor King, Amanda Woodruff and I visited her and looked at the original mural sections,” said Kelvin Sampson. “She has it in storage and has been looking for a home for it for many years. In its present condition it is split into 7-10′ wide sections a total of 70′ in width combined). Some of the sections are 16′ high. It was simply too large for anyone to take and use as it is, which is what the family had been searching for.”

“We were hopeful that we could fit the mural on one of the Lewistown Visitors Center walls but it was simply too large to do,” continued Sampson. “We were impressed by the quality of the painting, its style, and the vivid colors he used when painting it. After thinking about it for a few days, Amanda came up with a plan to create a digital copy of the mural that could be down- sized and printed the size needed to be able to mount it at the visitors center. We knew that this would be a monumental task.”

Due to the large size of each mural piece, it was necessary to photograph each piece in several sections in order to attain the detail and resolution needed to create a high quality reproduction. Sampson and Woodruff had to create a digital camera mount which attached to the ceiling, connected the camera to a computer with a long cable, rolled the mural sections out on tables and photographed the entire mural. These small slices were then merged back together using Adobe Photoshop to create the needed digital image. This proved beneficial since the original mural had suffered some damage during the process of salvaging it from the First National Bank of Springfield.

“It was easy to repair those areas with the computer”, said Woodruff.

The result was a high quality digital image that restored the painting back to its original glory. It has now been printed on one piece of canvas and can be viewed by visitors during the Scenic Drive at the Lewistown and Fulton County Visitors Center.

“This is a great addition to the visitors center and it is great to have it in a public accessible place for all to enjoy,” Woodruff added.

Harold Kee Welch was born in the small Fulton County town of Smithfield in 1905. He graduated from Canton Senior High School and attended the Chicago Art Institute before embarking on his career as a nationally known commercial illustrator. In 1963, he returned to Smithfield with his wife, Rita, and their five children. There he focused full-time on fine art, painting numerous Fulton County and Spoon River Country scenes until his death in 1972. Hundreds of his paintings, carvings, murals, and sculptures are held in private collections around the country. The works of Harold Kee Welch still touch the state of Illinois and the nation some 40 years after his death.

The original mural titled “Springfield: A Portrait,” (16′ high x 70′ long) depicting the history of Illinois, Sangamon County, and Springfield, was commissioned by The First National Bank of Springfield in 1964. It was salvaged by the Welch family when the bank underwent renovation. It has since been in storage, and due to its monumental size only small portions of it have been on public display temporarily in the library at Western Illinois University in Macomb.

The mural presents a timeline of history beginning with depictions of Kickapoo and Potawatomi Indians who roamed the valley of the Sangamon River when early settlers moved into the area in 1817. Settlers built forts, cleared and tilled the land, and traded with the Indians. Stores, mills, and taverns such as those in Lincoln’s home of New Salem sprang up.

The principal figure of the mural is a ghostly Abraham Lincoln. Above him to the left is his tomb, and below him to his left he is shown as the youthful woodsman with his four log cabin homes in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, followed by his home in Springfield and the White House.

At the right of the central figure is a middle-aged Lincoln making his farewell address to the people of Springfield from the back of the train headed to Washington, D.C. Standing behind him is his wife Mary. Ann Rutledge is shown sitting at the feet of the monumental Lincoln.

Progressing along the timeline to the right are scenes of strife in American history, the Civil War and World Wars I and II. The remainder of the mural dramatizes those eventful years and the part the First National Bank of Springfield played in fostering the growth of the city. Shown are merchants and small businesses, modern office and state buildings including the capitol, schools and children, hospitals and churches. Larger figures show tradesmen, businessmen and legislators building Springfield’s principal industries of agriculture, manufacturing, milling, and insurance.

Also shown are prize winning livestock, racing horses and racing cars, and the stadium and racetrack of the State Fair. At the right the mural ends with the three modes of transportation as they apply to moving the products of this flourishing community