We ART Valpo
We ART Valpo by Jessica Corral is a joyful, high-energy celebration of creativity and community that lights up the east wall of the McMillan Valpo Creates Center in Valparaiso.
The mural bursts with overlapping geometric shapes, playful curves, and bold patterns in reds, yellows, teals, blues, and oranges. At its center sits a large white heart outlined in green, a symbolic anchor that radiates warmth and love for the city. Surrounding it, Corral’s layered abstractions create a sense of motion and spontaneity, as though the mural itself is mid-dance.
The piece reads like a visual anthem for Valparaiso’s creative spirit. Elements such as the dynamic brush-like strokes, bubbly dots, and looping lines echo the diversity of artistic expression fostered by the Valpo Creates Center. The text “WE ART VALPO” placed along the heart’s edge reinforces the message: art thrives here because people make it thrive together. It is also a wink to the background Corral had as a 12-year art educator at Valparaiso Community Schools, whose slogan is “We Are Valpo.” Instantly uplifting, Corral’s mural transforms the building into a colorful invitation for residents and visitors to join Valpo’s growing creative movement.
Mural in progress
“This mural brings vibrancy to the Valpo Creative Center, the perfect gathering spot where the community comes together to create and inspire one another.”
Abigail Ramirez, Wire Weaving Artisan
Jessica Corral has well-rounded experience in many art forms out of sheer curiosity and her personal mission to expand further as an artist in every season of her life.
Long before she received her BA in Fine Arts from Indiana University in Film Production and Graphic Design, her younger self preferred seclusion to draw, paint, write, and secretly teach her stuffed animals how to make art. That educational spirit existed within her but wasn’t birthed until ending her ten-year web and graphic design business “Jade and Raspberry Designs”. Jessica ventured back for her Masters in Education, where she would teach elementary art in Valparaiso for twelve years.
Jessica has over twenty years of design experience and has showcased two personal art exhibits featuring works in acrylic, watercolor, alcohol ink, and paper sculptures. While teaching, she expanded the four walls of her classroom into subscription art boxes through her business, DIY Art Studio, remotely instructing creators of all ages for three years. Her experience in fundraising, event planning, and art activation appointed her to the role as Executive Director with Valparaiso Creative Council, where she now passionately facilitates unique opportunities for local creatives. She is an author, a designer, a painter, a mother of two, and an avid ambassador for the arts.
About the mural location
Open to all creative disciplines—visual arts, music, dance, writing, film, and more—this 3,000 sq. ft. multi-functional center in downtown Valpo is a place to teach, connect and bring ideas to life. See this mural on the east side of the Center at 256 Indiana Ave #5, Valparaiso, IN.
