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The Story of "Groovitude"
Art by Malinda Richardson and Jessica Prockish

Funding by the Diehl Community Arts Fund at the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation

Before you stand the coolest rock stars around.
The band “Groovitude'' (groovy + attitude) is comprised of a drummer t-rex, a bassist triceratops, a pterodactyl electric guitar player, a brachiosaurus singer, and of course the mad scientist time traveling velociraptor roadie.
Together they specialize in playing end-of-the-world gigs on planets that are about to have extinction events, in honor of them escaping their own individual extinctions.

However, the radiation from their dying planets has left them all a bit wounded. Some of them are missing flesh and have exposed organs, while some of them are growing organic material from their body.

Now to introduce the individuals of the band and share a bit about them. Beginning with the drummer, a T-rex by the name of Taronia. The radiation from home has left her a bit more in touch with the ocean than she was used to. With barnacles, coral, and seaweed growing from her, you may overlook the hole in her skull and the skin missing from her arm and tail.
Next up, we have our electric guitar player, Terry the pterodactyl. Hopefully he likes mushrooms and fungi because they'll probably be growing on him for a few more millennia.
Following Terry, we have the band's bassist Horidium the Triceratops. While at first glance it may not seem like there's much different about her, upon closer inspection you'll see that she's made up almost entirely of crystal and rock. Most visible in Horidium’s broken horns which expose the geodes inside them, and the spikes at the end of her frill made of various crystals.
Brachelia the brachiosaurus is the band's singer and a literal bleeding heart. The radiation from her planet left her with exposed ribs and a floral garden blooming on her back. She is a classic beauty with a voice of honey.
Finally, this ragtag group would be nothing without their raptor. Ratonius has a lot of titles, he is a roadie obviously, but he's also the time-traveling mad scientist who brought the band together and organizes their shows. Finding them one by one Ratonius assembled a band like no other. He brings them from show to show, planet to planet, in a magical portal of his own creation.
And who could forget the unintentional audience member who will surely be a fan of Groovitude in no time? Baurph ("barf") the classy rich alien, likes spending his time sunbathing in his backyard. However, one day he got quite the scenic ride, a disturbance on his planet left him soaring through space on the remnants of his vast property. Now Baurph has suddenly gotten front-row seats to not only a planet's extinction but also the coolest band in the universe.

Thank Yous

We hope knowing the story behind the mural helps you love it just as much as we do. Now while we have you, we’d like to give a few thank you’s. First and foremost, thank you to our artists, the original designers who spent months of hard work creating the actual art on the mural today. Putting so much of themselves into this art, thank you Malinda Richardson and Jessica Prockish. While Malinda and Jessica made the art, they couldn't have done it without the creative minds who helped come up with the theme and idea. So, thank you to our team Keenan Ridey, Dezi Masengale, and Tara Adams. Thank you so much to the MAC (Manhattan Arts Center) for allowing us to paint our art on their wall. As well as all the wonderful people who funded this project. To everyone who helped paint the mural itself, whether you were able to help for the entire week of painting or just a day your work is deeply appreciated. Thank you to our partners BHS Construction, Hy-Vee, Heritage Builders, Riley County PD, and First Congregational Church. Thank you to our painters Malinda Richardson, Jessica Prockish, Keenan Ridey, Dezi Massengale, Tara Adams, Justin Howard, Lizzie Cook, Princess Goudy (& Lena), Katie Baker, Olivia Riley, Emma Kellogg, and Courage Wortman. Thank you to muralists Justin and Lizzie, for helping to show us techniques on how to put our art onto this wall. And finally thank you!

By scanning this QR code and reading the story of this mural you are playing such a critical role. Engaging and participating with the arts in your community matters so much! The process of this mural has been a wild ride, and we are so so lucky and grateful to have been presented with this incredible opportunity. We hope that our effort and most importantly our art will be appreciated for years to come.

Funding for this mural was from the Deihl Community Arts Fund held at the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation.

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