TOLEDO, Ohio — The 170,000 square feet of the Glass City River Wall Mural has a striking resemblance to a much smaller mural at the corner of Jackson and North Superior Street.
Croak Asset Management, LLC's mural was the a test mural to gauge sizing, colors and the overall vision of the 28 grain silo mural.
While the giant piece of artwork will put Toledo on the map for the largest mural in the nation, Croak's president Tim Croak says this smaller mural actually brought the community closer together, which is what he wanted.
"Gosh, we've got this huge blank canvas, we ought to do something with it. You know, for us just for beautification of the project. But also to build some excitement downtown," Croak said of the idea for the mural.
The Croak Asset Management building dates back to 1897. Croak explained that being on the same block as the nearly 100-year-old Coney Island, Georgio's Restaurant and Valentine Theater, downtown is the place to be.
At this same time of looking for something new to update the outside walls of Croak, Glass City River Wall artist Gabe Gault was getting ready to paint.
The organization jumped at the idea to give Gault a practice space and looked at Scott, Ottawa Hills and Cardinal Stritch high schools for other things that were needed.
"[They brought] high school students, art students, to be able to meet Gabe Gault. Talk with him up close and personal, and also have them work on the project," said Croak.
Gault was on board with having fresh talent to teach and work alongside with for Croak's mural.
"I can't do this alone, I'm going to have to humble myself a little bit and you know, get some other artists on this project to help me create this thing and finish this thing," Gault said of this thought process for the mural.
A side courtyard was also added, creating a multifunctional space.
The mini mural project from start to finish all happened in July. Croak said that by giving young artists a chance to work under a noteworthy artists while helping make downtown beautiful is the job of all local area businesses.
"We need business commitment and we also need good artists. Fortunately, we've got great businesses here, and we've got great artist here, we just have to keep teaming up," Croak said.