GREENFIELD — Hancock County’s short list of state historical markers will soon include a new acknowledgment of one of the county’s most significant artists: Will Vawter, a frequent collaborator of James Whitcomb Riley.
David Spencer, director of marketing and public relations at NineStar Connect, wrote an application to the Indiana Historical Bureau for inclusion in its State Historical Markers program, which was accepted. This will be the third historical marker in Hancock County and the first added in over 50 years. A marker recognizing the origin of the rooster as a historical symbol of the Democratic Party was erected in 1966 near Riley Park on Main Street, and one at the birthplace of Riley was erected in 1967.
Spencer said he was excited that his application had been accepted and hoped the marker would bring more attention to Vawter’s legacy.
“I think he’s a really talented, often overlooked artist,” he said.
Spencer is now spearheading a new independent committee aiming to raise funds for a bronze statue of Vawter, similar to the one of Riley outside the Riley Boyhood Home and Museum on Main Street. Although a location for the historical marker has not yet been chosen, they hope to place it and a statue somewhere along the proposed Riley Literary Trail included in the city’s downtown revitalization plan. Construction on the trail is slated to begin in 2023.
Spencer said he is not sure how much the Vawter statue would cost, although the Riley statue by Terre Haute artist Bill Wolf cost approximately $50,000.
A proposed design for the statue shows Vawter working on a canvas, although the frame is empty. A bench would be placed near the statue, and visitors could have their photos taken from the other side, showing them framed as the artist’s work in progress.
According to “The Artists of Brown County,” a book profiling Vawter and his contemporaries, Vawter was born in West Virginia in 1871 and moved to Greenfield with his family at the age of 6. He was a lifelong Indiana resident and had a close working relationship with Riley, the “Hoosier Poet,” illustrating 11 volumes of his poems. In later years, he became a resident of the Brown County art colony.
Brigette Jones, the former president of the Hancock County Historical Society and current executive director of the Hancock County Tourism Commission, said Vawter and the “Hoosier Group” of artists of which he was a part were figures of national interest in their time.
“It’s the only time that a group of artists from Indiana really reached a national level,” Jones said.
A mostly self-taught artist, Jones said, Vawter was proficient in several mediums, including illustration, print-marking and an impressionistic style of oil painting. Many of his paintings featured the landscapes and towns of central Indiana.
“He could do anything; it didn’t matter what medium he was working in,” Spencer said.
Jones said a commemoration of Vawter would be a worthy addition to the small number of historical markers.
“Next to Riley, he’s probably our biggest claim to fame,” she said.
Spencer said the committee is working to raise funds for the statue through donations by residents and art enthusiasts from elsewhere in the state, including some collectors of Vawter’s work.
“He should be a celebrated son of Greenfield and the county,” Spencer said.
The committee hopes to erect the historical marker by April of 2020 and the statue by Vawter’s 150th birthday, April 13 of 2021.
