Latest news with #Sansing
Chicago Tribune
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Chicago-based artist to complete Gary mural
Max Sansing grew up visiting Gary from the south side of Chicago. Now, he's returned to the city to create a mural for Deniece Williams, a Grammy award-winning singer and Gary native. 'It's been awesome,' Sansing said. 'I've painted all over the world, and the response here has hit deeper. I know she means a lot to the people here.' Williams is known for various songs, including 'Let's Hear it for the Boy,' which in May 1984 hit No. 1 on the Billboard Top 100 music chart. Williams' mural is one of multiple new art pieces celebrating Gary success stories throughout the city. On Friday, the city unveiled a mural of the Jackson Five in the Miller neighborhood, which was painted by local artist Felix 'Flex' Maldonado. 'Gary has always been a city of heart and soul, and we owe so much to the Jackson family for the precious cultural heritage they've given us,' Mayor Eddie Melton said in a news release. 'My administration is strongly committed to creating opportunities for public art and supporting talented artists like Felix Maldonado who bring these visions to life. This new mural will support our local businesses along Lake Street while giving visitors another compelling reason to discover Gary as the premier beach front destination in Northwest Indiana.' The Jackson Five mural was privately funded by Gary residents, Karren and Patrick Lee and Tom and Sylvia Collins. The mural is reminiscent of another art piece that was on Lake Street before deterioration led to its removal. The city also plans to collaborate with Indiana University Northwest's School of Arts to create a mural on the former Sears building along Broadway. IUN students and alumni will help create a series of murals that shows Gary's history and most influential citizens. 'These city-funded projects represent a commitment to honor Gary's musical heritage and invite the public to experience Gary's downtown revitalization,' the news release said. The mural of Williams — which Sansing planned to finish Wednesday — is located at the corner of West 25th Avenue and Broadway. Sansing said his friend, artist Ish Muhammad, asked him to create the art. Sansing had the idea to paint Williams, and the mural is a portrait of her when she was younger with colors reflective of albums she's made. He also included flowers and a songbird on the portrait. 'I figured this was a piece where I could tell more about who she was as a person,' Sansing said. 'I wanted to tell a story with all these colors and different little images about her.' Williams visited Sansing while he worked on the mural about a week before he planned to complete it, he said, adding that one of his friends told him Williams started to tear up while she looked at the painting. Sansing grew up listening to Williams' music, so he said it's made the mural more special for him. 'It was barely finished, but it was good to see her happy,' Sansing said. 'It's nerve-racking to have someone show up when you're painting them, but people said she was happy with how it looked.' The Post-Tribune was unable to contact Williams for a comment. The city of Gary posted about Williams' visit on its Facebook page, including photos of her with Melton. 'Honoring a hometown legend,' the Facebook post said. 'A beautiful mural is going up at 25th & Broadway to celebrate the incredible Deniece Williams — the Grammy-winning artist whose soaring four-octave voice took her from local church choirs to international stardom.' Sansing is excited to see how residents throughout the city will continue to embrace his work. 'I really just want to say thank you to the city of Gary and to the people of Gary,' he said. 'I mean, it's not an easy thing to do this, and I appreciate them making me feel welcomed, and them saying hi and sharing their stories. It really helps me get this done.' The city's investment in public art is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2025, according to a Gary news release.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Yahoo
Army veteran's trek across US brings him to the Valley
COLUMBIANA, Ohio (WKBN) — An Army veteran's trek across the country is taking him right through the heart of the Mahoning Valley. With his life at a crossroads, he wasn't sure where to go next. There's an old saying that says you can't understand a person's life until you walk a mile in their shoes. But Jake Sansing has been through so much and walked so far. 'Everybody is going through something,' Sansing said. 'I ended up going from Tennessee to Delaware to California, to Florida to Alaska, back to Florida and back to California again. I just kept on walking.'Jake was in the Army from 2007-2011, serving two tours of duty in Afghanistan before returning home. He found re-acclimating to civilian life a bit challenging and fell on hard times, ending up homeless. But he picked himself up by his shoestrings and started walking. 'I've ran into a lot of people in general, and veterans included. We're all the same, we're all going through stuff,' he said. 'They can understand where I'm coming from. A lot of veterans get out of the service and have trouble finding jobs or just getting the mentality that civilians have. It's a different world being in the military and being out in the civilian world. Everything doesn't run the same. People are more chaotic. In the military, everything is more structured.'He wrote a book detailing his struggles, but with nowhere to publish it, he did the only thing he knew how to do. 'The reason I continued walking was to get my book out there. I self-published my book. A publisher wouldn't even read it unless it was professionally edited, which would've cost like $10,000 that I didn't have,' Sansing said. Jake has pounded the pavement, slowly moving from one coast to the other. He's made the trip four times now, walking more than 16,000 miles. 'A lot of people have said that I've inspired them, even though that wasn't my intention,' Sansing said. 'It kind of confused me, honestly, because I didn't feel like an inspiration, I kind of felt like someone who was struggling.' You may see him pushing his cart with the words 'Jake Walks America,' printed in big block letters. The cart weighs 200 pounds, packed with two gallons of water and 25 pounds of food. It's also equipped with a solar panel so he can charge his devices and has a tent to sleep in. He slept in the tent strictly for the first few years he was walking. 'Dealing with the weather has been pretty bad, Sansing said. 'I've been through several tornadoes. Blizzards. I've been through all of it. I used to just get in my tent and hope for the best whenever there was bad weather. Or just keep walking through it and just pray that everything worked out.' He said for the first five or six years, he stayed outside around the clock. Since he started making money from his book, he says he will get a motel if he needs says this trip will be his last. His destination is New York City, and he sees another book down the road in his future. But right now his success is measured by how far he's come. 'Whatever you want to do, stay focused on it,' Sansing said. 'Keep pushing through.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
