Muralist Transforms Downtown Edwardsville Location to Showcase SIUE and Community

EDWARDSVILLE - Muralist Duenne Schlarman has become a fixture for those in the vicinity of the former Goshen Butcher Shop on Main Street in downtown Edwardsville, IL. The building provides Schlarman a 1,000 square foot canvas for the artist. This is her second mural sponsored by Southern Illinois University Edwardsville where Schlarman is a Master of Fine Arts candidate.

“I think this mural might be the biggest one I’ve ever done,” said Schlarman who remembers painting murals throughout her childhood. “My mother’s entire house is covered in murals.”

Schlarman spends hours on her own at the location with her spray paint, string, tape and cart. She has had the opportunity to enlist the occasional pedestrian, fellow students, and her father who came to town in time to assist. Schlarman says she welcomes the shoutouts from passersby as well as the unpredictability of working outside in the elements. “Prepping was the hardest part. Power washing was least six hours,” said Schlarman. Two coats of primer and sketching out the entire painting just to practice—all during extremely hot weather—resulted in six days of just prepping the wall.

Schlarman arrives at this project having recently completed her first University sponsored mural at a senior center in Brooklyn, IL. Her painting honored the area’s significant history as a stop on the Underground Railroad for enslaved persons.

SIUE is prominently featured in the Edwardsville landscape painting, which includes the Cougar and a brightly colored sunset. Schlarman says, “Some murals seem timeless. Some only last a couple of years. That’s the beauty of a mural.”

Watch Duenne on her social media channelas she discovers how much she enjoys painting under the night sky.