It’s hard not to smile when walking through the front doors of the Porter
town hall this season.
Taylor Ricks, a former Porter resident, has painted the likenesses of Town
Council members Greg Stinson, David Wodrich, Rob Pomeroy, Jeannine Virtue
and Elka Nelson surrounded by holiday greenery on the outside double doors;
clerk-treasurer Carol Pomeroy, her three deputy clerks Karen, Tammie and
Cveta, and director of development Mike Barry all are depicted on the inside
doors leading into the public meeting room.
According to Pomeroy, the reaction from the public has been very positive.
“They think it’s wonderful.”
At a recent council meeting she was teased about the vivacious blonde
version of herself she requested for the window. “That’s before I came
here,” she quipped.
Ricks didn’t work from photographs. “I came to a Town Council meeting and I
was the weird person in the background sketching. I drew cartoons of the
members but they didn’t sit still.” She also met the town-hall staff.
Ricks works at Wagner’s in Porter and last year she painted cartoons on the
restaurant’s windows depicting her co-workers as elves. “That was a learning
experience --- learning what to do and what not to do quickly.”
Both of her parents are artists and Ricks used to teach art to children at
the Art Barn in Valparaiso. She’s studying art education at Indiana
University Northwest and hopes to get an art internship on her way to
becoming an illustrator/designer. Ricks currently does commissioned pencil
portraits.
She donated painting her murals on the town-hall doors and said she enjoyed
doing it. “It was fun."
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