The Murals Across Ohio has a goal of driving tourism to towns to view the murals while highlighting Ohio’s “indispensable contributions to our nation’s past, present and future through public works of art,” according to a media release from Murals across Ohio.

Communities participating in the program will have their murals featured on the website with a description and location of the murals on a map of the State of Ohio.

Hampson has spent over eight summers painting more than 30 panels on the flood walls after being commissioned to do the paintings by the Village of Wellsville in 2005. She said the murals are of what Wellsville looked like in the past and feature local resident along the Riverfront. The mural of the kiln located in the parking area near the flood was the first painting she completed in the series. Her work at the American Legion she did over the course of five years is still an ongoing project with two sections left to complete.

One of the panels, the last one located under the bridge, features Hampson and the committee for the murals.

Mural artist Gina Hampson looks at her rendition of the iconic photograph V-J Day in Times Square captured by Alfred Eisenstaedt of a sailor grabbing a nurse for a kiss in Times Square on Aug. 14, 1945. (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)

American Legion Commander Patrick Wright would like to see a panel created to honor the US Coast Guard and Space Force. The main painting at the American Legion features a portrait Hampson painted of local Medal of Honor recipient Melvin Newll.

Hampson was commissioned by the American Legion to paint a mural for each branch of the military.

“American Legion Post #70 is excited to be included in the Ohio 250 Mural Commemoration. Our goal with the murals is to honor our military and the men and women who serve,” Wright said. “Our military has been in a constant state of war for 25 years. We want our murals to depict the modern military on today’s battlefield. We told artist Gina Hampson what we envisioned, what equipment we would like to see included, and she did a fantastic job bringing it to life. We are super excited that Wellsville native and Medal of Honor recipient Melvin E. Newell is featured on our wall.”

Hampson’s mural on the front of the Fraternal Order of the Eagles includes her rendition of the iconic photograph V-J Day in Times Square captured by Alfred Eisenstaedt of a sailor grabbing a nurse for a kiss in Times Square on Aug. 14, 1945, following the announcement that the war with Japan would end.

Hampson said that she tried to be as historically accurate as possible, and it took a lot of research and going through photos that many Wellsville residents had.

Mural artist Gina Hampson and American Legion Post #70 Commander Patrick Wright stand in front of her mural of Local medal of Honor recipient Melvin Newlin. (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)

“Hampson’s inclusion in the Ohio 250 Murals Across Ohio program recognizes her years of dedication to community-based public art and the way her murals preserve and honor Wellsville’s people and stories for residents and visitors alike,” Smoot said.

Hampson was disheartened to see the condition of some of the murals, with some of them with much of their paint peeling from some of the murals, and is hopeful that someone will start a fundraiser to fix those.

Mural Artist Gina Hampson stands in front of the first of 32 murals she spent eight summers painting on the Wellsville flood Wall. (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)

Bill Collins, trustee, Fraternal Order of Eagles; Tracee Murphy and Lindsey Smoot, Wellsville Carnegie Public Library; Gina Hampson, mural artist; and Craig Williams, president, Fraternal Orders of the Eagles, stand in front of one of the murals painted by Hampson at the Fraternal Order of the Eagles #722 in Wellsville. (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)

Mural Artist Gina Hampson clears tree limbs away from one of the 32 murals she painted on the Wellsville flood wall. (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)

Mural artist Gina Hampson looks at her rendition of the iconic photograph V-J Day in Times Square captured by Alfred Eisenstaedt of a sailor grabbing a nurse for a kiss in Times Square on Aug. 14, 1945. (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)