The future looks bright for a century-old building in downtown Cadillac — literally — thanks to the work of one Michigan State University College of Arts & Letters alum and a partnership between MSU Extension and the city of Cadillac.
In summer 2025, the side of the Cadillac Printing Company building was painted with vibrant hues of red, orange, yellow, and green as part of a mural designed by local artist Gabby Hanson, who also instructs youth art classes at Up North Arts, a nonprofit organization dedicated to furthering arts-related educational opportunities in the greater Cadillac area.
The mural project began in 2024, when arts advocate and MSU alum Diane Wilson first met with representatives from the Cadillac Area Visitors Bureau (CVB) in the weeks before MSU Extension’s Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities (CEC) conference in downtown Cadillac. The conference brings together local leaders, such as business owners, educators, nonprofits, government officials, and economic developers, to build connections and spark new ideas that help communities grow their potential for entrepreneurship.
“CEC is about making connections that turn into lasting collaborations. The focus is on working together to build stronger, more resilient communities in rural Michigan,” said Wilson, who graduated from MSU with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Women’s Studies and English and a Master of Arts degree in American Studies.
“Cadillac has about 30 sites they are exploring to install murals, and my job is to collaborate and guide — to demonstrate how you create public art, evaluate its community impact, and be a resource through the fun and the challenges of a project.”
Diane Wilson
Wilson is now the Executive Director of Michigan ArtShare, a project of MSU Extension, which supports community growth through investments in arts and culture-focused projects. Following her presentations at CEC, she continued to work with the CVB and Cadillac Downtown Development Authority on their desire to integrate public art into downtown Cadillac. Wilson worked with city officials in Cadillac to develop a plan, and Michigan ArtShare was awarded a $12,000 grant from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council to complete the project.
“Cadillac has about 30 sites they are exploring to install murals, and my job is to collaborate and guide — to demonstrate how you create public art, evaluate its community impact, and be a resource through the fun and the challenges of a project,” said Wilson, who brought on Heath Urbaniak to serve as the project director for the grant. Urbaniak is the Executive Director of Up North Arts and is married to Hanson.
“We’re building a community around these artworks by partnering with local groups and organizations,” Urbaniak said. “My role includes gathering public input and helping residents understand the mural process because we want the art to reflect local identity and give the community a real sense of ownership.”
The mural on the Cadillac Printing Company building is an important first step in creating more public art opportunities in Cadillac.
The mural honors Marion Nye, a longtime typesetter at the Cadillac Printing Company who is remembered for his dedication, skill, and kindness. It celebrates the lasting impact of an everyday worker whose craft and character helped sustain the business for nearly a century in downtown Cadillac.
“I love that the main person featured in the mural was not anyone of major public importance. He is a worker who helped keep a 100-plus-year-old company going,” Hanson said. “I think that really speaks to the community because Cadillac is a community of workers.”
The Cadillac mural project is part of the Urban/Rural Conversation initiative within Michigan ArtShare. This initiative brings an artist from a rural area of the state to Detroit, and an artist from Detroit to a rural area. Hanson’s paintings are currently on exhibit at the MSU Extension office at Focus Hope in Detroit as part of this initiative. In November, the exhibit will be moved to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation lobby in downtown Lansing.
“Art is something that people can be inspired by. It can help eliminate blight and degradation. It can drive tourism. There are so many reasons to invest in and create art.”
Heath Urbaniak
As part of this exchange, Hanson worked with renowned Detroit artist Chazz Miller to hone techniques she used on the Cadillac Printing Company mural.
“Detroit is a primary hub in the world’s art scene right now,” Wilson said. “We wanted to include Michigan’s rural communities in that energy and support projects where these folks would have a reason to get together.”
Detroit and Cadillac are both examples of how public art instills hope and pride in communities.
“Art is something that people can be inspired by. It can help eliminate blight and degradation. It can drive tourism,” Urbaniak said. “There are so many reasons to invest in and create art.”
In Cadillac, public art is more than the finished mural on the Cadillac Printing Company building and the other murals planned for the future. It’s about partnerships, connection, and identity.
“Community art is for the community. At the end of the day, you want to give people something nice to look at, but it’s more than just that: You’re bringing people together and creating a conversation,” Urbaniak said. “We’re trying to further cement that local identity through art and include and incorporate as many people as we can.”
Hanson shared a similar sentiment. “The mural itself has thousands and thousands of handprints from all different people in the community, and I just really loved talking with them about art. I love seeing the people looking at the mural, critiquing themselves, and exploring a new part of the city,” she said. “I love that the art has woken up passions and people in this community.”
Spartan Bus Tour
On Oct. 19, the Spartan Bus Tour visited Up North Arts in Cadillac and the Cadillac Printing Company building to see the mural designed by Hanson.
The Spartan Bus Tour is a twice-yearly event that connects MSU leadership and faculty directly with communities across the state. The goal of these tours is to listen, learn, and strengthen partnerships that benefit all Michiganders.
The Fall 2025 Spartan Bus Tour took place Oct. 19-21, 2025, where MSU President Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Ph.D., and select faculty and university leaders, visited more than a dozen communities in northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula to meet partners, see local projects firsthand, and explore new ways to collaborate.
The Fall 2025 Spartan Bus Tour also visited Mammoth Distilling, a Northern Michigan-based craft distillery in Central Lake that is owned by MSU alumni Chad Munger (B.A. in English) and his wife, Tracy Hickman (B.A. in Interior Design). Read more about Munger and Hickman and the Spartan Bus Tour visit to Mammoth Distilling in the article, “English Alum’s Company Among the Stops on the Spartan Bus Tour,” published by the MSU College of Arts & Letters.
By Alex Tekip and Kim Popiolek
