A living history, painted together

The Roscoe Village Community Mural brings the area’s canal-era and Indigenous history into dialogue with the community’s future. More than 70 community participants contributed to the work.

The creative process

The documented process included four generations of the Weaver family, descendants of Roscoe’s original blacksmith, and participants with Indigenous ancestry. Community members were invited to add their own brushstrokes behind the blacksmith shop.

People & collaboration

Benjamin Swatez and Roscoe Village community participants.

A continuing conversation

This project belongs to a wider practice of community-authored expression. Its relationship to Artegenesis is explored as part of Benjamin’s developing research, without assuming identical effects across communities.

Source record: Coshocton Tribune / USA TODAY Network, Leonard Hayhurst, August 27, 2026; media archive.