OSU art students bring Stillwater's sister city story to life on the walls of Chris Salmon Plaza

A new mural celebrating Stillwater's 40-year sister city relationship with Kameoka, Japan, was unveiled Thursday at Chris Salmon Plaza in downtown Stillwater, capping a months-long collaboration between Oklahoma State University art students, the Prairie Arts Center, and city staff.

The work was designed by Jake Warner, a junior from Yukon studying studio art, whose concept emerged from a competitive process that drew submissions from roughly 30 students across two OSU visual thinking classes. Warner's design beat out two other finalists — a field that visiting assistant professors Bec Sommer and Shelby Roberts said was unusually strong.

"We had a really hard time narrowing down the finalists to the final three," Sommer said. "We had a wonderful batch of submissions this year."

Warner's mural centers on a daruma — a traditional Japanese doll used to symbolize goal-setting and achievement — with specific ties to the Stillwater-Kameoka relationship. The doll depicted in the mural was a gift from Taisei, a Kameoka junior high school. When a Stillwater delegation visited Kameoka, a group member colored in the daruma's left eye to set a goal. The following April, Taisei students visited Stillwater and colored in the right eye, completing the promise. Inscribed on the daruma's chest are the Japanese characters for friendship, yūkō.

"This daruma is a symbol of the bond formed between the two cities, which is why I placed it in the middle of my mural," Warner said.

Radiating outward from the daruma are visual elements drawn from each city: Bradford pear blossoms representing Stillwater, cherry blossoms representing Kameoka, shogoin turnips and wheat reflecting each city's agricultural identity, and a scissortail flycatcher alongside a red-crowned crane. Old Central — a Stillwater landmark that Kameoka has recreated as a tribute to the sister city bond — appears in both cities' architectural framing at the top and bottom of the composition.

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

Two community gatherings, one powerful day of prayer. 🙏 

Stillwater's 74th National Day of Prayer is Thursday, May 7 — and all are invited to take part in this year's theme: Glorify God Among the Nations, Seek Him in All Generations.

Noon Open-Air Gathering — Block 34 Simmons Bank Pavilion, 218 W. 9th Ave. Bring a lawn chair.

Evening Gathering, 7 p.m. — CREC Community Center, 3305 S. Boomer Rd.

Come together to pray for our community, county, state, and the world. Bring your family, friends, church, and neighbors. This is a public, community-wide gathering — everyone is welcome.

Warner said his interest in the project was personal as well as artistic. He had learned about Stillwater's sister city relationship through Jacie Gray, a fellow OSU student and former president of the university's Japanese Language Club who went on to become one of the program's most prominent recent ambassadors.

The city recognized Gray in May 2025 for her work revitalizing the student exchange with Kameoka and teaching English to international visitors. After graduating from OSU with a degree in Music Industry and a minor in Japanese Linguistics, Gray accepted a position at Kameoka City Hall as an exchange coordinator.

"She was a close friend of mine, so I got to hear about the Sister City before this project," Warner said. "When it came around, I was like, oh, this is super cool. I absolutely love this."

The mural was painted on two fabric panels in a Prairie Arts Center studio before city parks crew members Monty Ridgway and Andy Woods mounted them to the plaza's brick wall. The process involved projecting the digital design file onto the fabric to trace the composition, painting it, and then adhering the panels to the wall using acrylic gel — a high-stakes installation step with little room for adjustment once the panels made contact with the brick.

"Weather needs to be, ideally, not windy," Sommer said of the conditions required for installation. "We also need to get the placement right — basically first shot."

This year, the installation got neither. Stephanie Kinder, the city's community programs manager, said the wind was relentless during the mounting process.

"We'd get it up there and then the wind would blow it," Kinder said.

Roberts acknowledged the challenge from the stage during the unveiling, thanking Ridgway and Woods for completing the work "during a lot of wind and weather, and a fire down the street." Ridgway and Woods, who were credited by name during the ceremony, have now installed the last two murals in the plaza series and have become part of a newly established parks crew within the city's Parks and Community Resources department.

Mayor Will Joyce, who has traveled to Kameoka twice in recent years — including an exchange trip made alongside several Stillwater students — said the sister city program holds particular meaning for him and noted students from Kameoka will visit Stillwater this fall.

"It's been 40 years that we've been Sister Cities with Kameoka in Japan," Joyce said. "Thirty-five years we've been sending kids back and forth on the exchange trips."

OSU visiting assistant professor Shelby Roberts said the project gave students hands-on experience with the full arc of public art production.

"It's an opportunity to work as a team, to problem solve, and to contribute something lasting and joyful to the community," Roberts said. "To every student who worked on this mural, we hope that every time you walk by, you will feel a sense of pride and remember the times you shared in its creation with your classmates."

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

Stillwater Building Center carries multiple Andersen window lines — and you can see them in person before you buy. Free estimates, local installers, and prices that may surprise you.

See How Local Stacks Up

The new mural marks the final installation in the current series at Chris Salmon Plaza before the collaborative program resets with a new theme. Previous murals in the series have celebrated agriculture, music, and Christine Salmon, the former Stillwater mayor for whom the plaza is named. Last year's mural, "Stilly Fresh" by OSU student Katie Reynolds, honored the city's local food culture and farmer's market community.

The Thursday unveiling also served as a soft launch for Let's Play, a new early childhood initiative from the Early Childhood Coalition of Stillwater that pairs public art with family engagement. A QR code posted at the mural connects visitors to interactive content designed to spark curiosity and language development in young children. The program, developed in partnership with the Stillwater History Museum at the Sheerar, the Stillwater Public Library, Visit Stillwater, and the city, is scheduled to officially launch June 11.

"Public art like this becomes more than something to look at," said Ashley Cruz, who spoke on behalf of the Early Childhood Coalition. "It becomes something to experience."

📺 Watch the unveiling