Three OSU students presented competing designs for final Chris Salmon Plaza mural, all honoring Kameoka sister city relationship

Three Oklahoma State University art students presented competing designs April 6 for what will be the final mural in the current series at Chris Salmon Plaza — each drawing on Stillwater's four-decade sister city relationship with Kameoka, Japan. The winning design will be unveiled April 24 at 1 p.m. at the downtown pocket park.

The presentation continues a collaborative program between the city and OSU that has added student-designed murals to the plaza in recent years. Last year, the program selected "Stilly Fresh" by OSU student Katie Reynolds, celebrating Stillwater's local food culture and farmer's market community.

Dawn Dodson, the city's chief public affairs officer, introduced the three students alongside Meghan Brasuell, general manager of the Prairie Arts Center, and noted the project has unfolded over several years.

"This is our final mural to finish up that sequence before we start all over again," Dodson said.

The presenting students were Jake Warner, a junior from Yukon studying studio art; Paige Randall, a freshman majoring in graphic design from Kingston, Ark.; and Cariana Villarreal, a freshman studying studio art from Fort Worth, Texas.

Jake Warner, a junior from Yukon studying studio art at Oklahoma State University, discusses his mural submission for Chris Salmon Plaza during a presentation recorded for Stillwater City Council on April 6. At right, a rendering of his design features a daruma — a traditional Japanese goal-setting doll — at center, surrounded by swirling imagery representing Stillwater and its sister city of Kameoka, Japan.

Warner's design 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 his 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, yuukou.

"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.

Swirling outward from the daruma are visual attributes of each city: Bradford pear blossoms for Stillwater, cherry blossoms for Kameoka; shogoin turnips and wheat representing each city's agriculture; and blue and orange tents representing landmark events — OSU's homecoming for Stillwater, the Hozugawa Fireworks Festival for Kameoka. A scissortail flycatcher, Oklahoma's state bird, and a red-crowned crane, symbolic of Japan, close out the swirling composition. Kameoka's architecture frames the top of the mural and Stillwater's the bottom, with Old Central — a Stillwater landmark that Kameoka has recreated as a tribute to the sister city relationship — appearing in both.

Paige Randall, a freshman from Kingston, Ark., majoring in graphic design at Oklahoma State University, discusses her mural submission for Chris Salmon Plaza during a presentation recorded for Stillwater City Council on April 6. At right, a rendering of her design incorporates cherry blossoms, a Japanese torii gate, bellflowers, and a depiction of Old Central to represent the Stillwater-Kameoka sister city relationship.

Randall's design takes a landscape approach, opening with a sweeping cherry blossom tree and mountain backdrop evoking Kameoka's setting. A red torii gate and traditional Japanese decorations anchor the middle of the composition, while a depiction of Old Central grounds the design in Stillwater's identity. Large bellflowers — an autumn bloom tied closely to Kameoka's visual culture and official imagery — fill the foreground alongside a Japanese decorative fan.

"I hope the viewers are able to either make a connection or gain curiosity to further their knowledge about the sister city relationship," Randall said.

She noted the project offered an unexpected window into Stillwater's history for an out-of-state student.

"I'd like to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to come up with the design as well as giving me a chance as an out-of-state student to learn more about the city of Stillwater," Randall said.

Cariana Villarreal, a freshman from Fort Worth, Texas, studying studio art at Oklahoma State University, discusses her mural submission for Chris Salmon Plaza during a presentation recorded for Stillwater City Council on April 6. At right, a rendering of her design depicts two turtle species from Stillwater and Kameoka sharing a pond — a nod to Kameoka's name, which translates to Turtle Hill in Japanese.

Villarreal's design takes the most playful turn, offering a top-down view of a shared pond environment with two turtles — one swimming, one watching from above — surrounded by floating cherry blossom petals. The subject is rooted in geography: Kameoka translates directly to "Turtle Hill" in Japanese, a reference to the city's surrounding terrain.

"Turtles may seem like a random design choice at first, until we stop to consider what the name of Kameoka really means," Villarreal said.

She placed turtle species native to both Stillwater and Kameoka in the same water, a visual metaphor for the student exchange programs she hopes will continue across generations.

Stillwater Mayor Will Joyce addresses OSU art students following their mural design presentations at the April 6 Stillwater City Council meeting. Joyce, who traveled to Kameoka, Japan last year for the anniversary of the sister city relationship, praised all three submissions. – Photo by Chris Peters

Mayor Will Joyce, who traveled to Kameoka last year alongside City Manager Brady Moore for the anniversary of the sister city relationship, praised all three submissions and said he hoped to share the students' video presentations with contacts in Kameoka.

"Those are all just really good encapsulations of the relationship and so many themes that we saw," Joyce said. "The turtle is a big symbol used throughout Kameoka."

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Councilor Kevin Clark said the program directly advances the city's broader public arts goals.

"The opportunity to give students the ability to design projects for the city that are going to be on display, have this public work, and be part of the public arts — what we're trying to do here in Stillwater anyway — I'm excited," Clark said.

Vice Mayor Amy Dzialowski called the plaza one of her favorite spots in downtown Stillwater.

Brasuell thanked city and community members who helped students research the project, noting that members of the Kameoka board met with students and shared relics from the community center, and credited Stephanie Kinder, the city's community programs manager, with originating the mural concept.

The public is invited to the unveiling April 24 at 1 p.m. at Chris Salmon Plaza.

From left, Elena Masrour, visiting assistant professor of studio art at Oklahoma State University's College of Arts and Sciences; 2025 selected artist Katie Reynolds; and Marika Christofides, teaching assistant professor of studio art, graphic design and art history at OSU, pose in front of Reynolds' "Stilly Fresh" mural at Chris Salmon Plaza during its April 25, 2025 unveiling. – Photo by Chris Peters

Council seats first Stillwater Public Art Committee

In a separate action at the April 6 meeting, the council voted 5-0 to seat seven members on the newly formed Stillwater Public Art Committee with staggered terms designed to create an ongoing board rotation.

Mayor Joyce appointed Cristy Morrison, Sarah Brown and Barry Fuxa to three-year terms expiring in April 2029; Kirsten Olds and Valerie Bloodgood to two-year terms expiring in April 2028; and Tim Hodges and Katie Bean to one-year terms expiring in April 2027.

Earlier in the April 6 meeting, the council advanced Ordinance 3600 to a second reading. The ordinance amends the city code's public art chapter to clarify voting and non-voting committee membership and establishes that four voting members constitute a quorum.

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