Claire, MI New Deal Art

New Deal/WPA Art in Clare, Michigan

This Post Office mural was funded by the Section of Fine Arts under the Treasury Department and not the WPA.

No photograph available

Clare, MI Post Office
"The Mail Arrives in Clare - 1871" - oil on canvas
Allan Thomas (1937)

Reference Source:
Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal
by Marlene Park & Gerald E. Markowitz

View the photo album of the Gerald Mast Clare murals at: www.flickr.com/photos/fibers developed by Linda Ritz.

Not only does the Clare Middle School (then a high school) have a series of fabulous murals done in 1938 by Gerald Mast, but they are also home to an eight foot sculpture entitiled "Pioneer Mother" by Samuel Cashwan. Murals and sculpture were dedicated at the same time on November 11, 1938.

"Pioneer Mother" by Samuel Cashwan
Dedicated on November 11, 1938

photographs taken by Dr. Thomas L. Moline,
Superintendent, Clare Public Schools

There was a special ceremony about the continued restoration of the Mast murals on Saturday, September 4, 2004.

"$20 million murals at school belong to U.S. government: WPA works display Michigan City's Heritage," The Blade (Jan. 15, 2004):
An interesting article about the four murals in the Clare Middle School auditorium done by Gerald Mast in 1938. (pdf 976kb)

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