James Barany painted a large mural on the outside of the John Deere Horicon Works that encapsulates the dynamic between the Horicon Marsh and John Deere.
Barary attended the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design where he has now been a professor there for 27 years. Additionally he worked at the Milwaukee Art Museum for 10 years.
Back in August of 2025 was when the project began. “I was approached by John Deere to help them change the aesthetic of that entire side of the building,” Barany said. John Deere didn’t like the way the building looked when people drove in from the Beaver Dam side and wanted something more fitting.
John Deere was looking for a way to spruce up the side of their building. Facilities and Maintenance Engineer at John Deere Horicon Works, Deanna Dickerson, said that there were boarded up windows, insulation showing and previous window coverings had fallen.
“We wanted to give a better face representing John Deere to our community. There’s also a boat tour that goes right by us… Lots of birders come visit us so we wanted to give a better look to our community,” Dickerson mentioned.
The mural is meant to tie the community, John Deere and the Horicon Marsh together. Dickerson explained,“The content was chosen specifically to represent the pride in what Horicon produces.” The equipment pictured through time shows the versatility of their machines and how it has built up over the years in Horicon.
An important aspect to be included in the mural was the seed drill. The seed drill was a huge part of the site here and is a tribute to when the Van Brunt Manufacturing Company was connected with John Deere in Horicon.
Once the machine was in he decided to flood the rest of it with birds from the marsh. He took extra time and consideration to make sure the correct birds were there and that they were painted and represented perfectly.
Barany explained, “Then they opened up these double doors and it opened up to the marsh and I was overwhelmed.” That is where his specific idea stemmed from for the mural.
“The idea really was about them paying homage to not only the community but the marsh. The marsh was a big part of this and they got me to work with an ornithologist (someone who studies birds) and a historian on their campus.” This made sure that he painted the right John Deere equipment and got the marsh birds right. That process took about a month.
Then the other two connecting buildings were included and it is meant to show a sort of evolution line of John Deere. “Of course it’s about John Deere and their lineage but so much of the mural is completely devoted to the ecosystem, the aspect of nature,” Barany added.
In order to keep painting throughout the year, Barany used acrylic composite material on aluminum panels. They were adhered to the wall by using a french cleat system which actually helps protect the building from degradation. He painted from August of 2025 all the way to early May of 2026.
Dickerson said, “You’ll see retirees [from John Deere] out there getting a picture with the mural or people stopping to take a look at it and that to me is really rewarding. It’s something that others are enjoying and appreciating.”
In July the mural was unveiled when John Deere had a celebration for their workers. They even brought in a seed drill so people could compare it to the painted one on the mural. Postcards were made with the mural on it as well.
During the celebration he brought in students from his course at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. Some employees at John Deere spoke to the students about designing for products.
Barany teaches a lot of introductory courses and does advanced teaching in experimental film making, fine arts drawing, anatomy and painting. While being a teacher he has to maintain professional practice. For him that looks like public murals and experimental film making.
In addition to the murals in Horicon and Hartford, he also has a small one in Hustisford.
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