Photo by Deb Gau Marshall City Council members looked at concept renderings for proposed interactive artwork in Marshall. The council discussed possible locations for the artwork, including Independence Park and Terrace 1872, next to City Hall.

MARSHALL — A local artist and Visit Marshall have a proposal for a new piece of public art in Marshall. But one of the big questions for the proposal was where the art should be displayed.

At a Tuesday work session, members of the Marshall City Council heard more about the proposed project, and gave feedback on possible locations for it.

“In March, we were approached by Visit Marshall about a potential community art project,” said Marshall City Administrator Sharon Hanson. “At that time, we did see a conceptual rendering of the proposed artwork, and we discussed applying for a grant through the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council.”

Local artist SammyJo Miller said the artwork would feature a series of paintings on cutout steel shapes, that would be mounted on a wall. Examples of images shared with the council included balloons, music notes, a megaphone, an ice cream cone, and more.

“The objects each represent a part of Marshall’s identity,” Miller said. “You guys are constantly doing music festivals and having get-togethers, and that’s what really stood out to me becoming a member of the Marshall community. I want that to be reflected in some of the public art that’s around here.”

When the elements of the artwork are hung up, they won’t be flush with the wall, Visit Marshall Director Cassi Weiss and Miller said. Instead, there would be a couple inches of space so people could get close and interact with the artwork. For example, people would be able to pose as if they were holding the string of a balloon, and so on.

Weiss said the idea for the public art grew out of Marshall’s Arts and Living History Festival, which will be held later this month.

“It’s been our goal with the Arts and Living History Festival to have some kind of art project with it,” she said. This year, a planning committee was hoping to start something bigger, she said.

Weiss said possible locations discussed for the artwork included Terrace 1872 next to City Hall, or at some different locations including the Marshall-Lyon County Library or Independence Park.

Art elements could be added to the new shelter at Independence Park, or even spaced out around different park shelters and buildings, Weiss said.

Council members weren’t sure about putting the artwork at Terrace 1872. The proposed spot for the art elements was on the terrace wall alongside Mainstay Cafe. Council members including James Lozinski said damage to the wall from hanging artwork would be expensive to fix. At the same time, Lozinski said, “I would love to somehow get people downtown, so I’m kind of torn.”

Council member See Moua-Leske said she liked the idea of Independence Park because it would be more accessible to people.

“I think it would go well there, especially if, like Cassi said, it would be on different structures around the park,” said council member Amanda Schwartz.

Hanson said next steps for the city would include having the Marshall city attorney look at the grant agreement for the project, and an artist agreement. Formal approvals of the agreements would come before the council at a future meeting.