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U.S. hostages and RAGBRAI among artist's street-side murals

Talk of Iowa, hosted by Charity Nebbe

Using only water, flour and sugar over a stove, Isaac Campbell uses creativity and love of community to bring wheat paste murals to life.

To assist in the 150th celebration of the founding of Coralville, Ottumwa native Isaac Campbell has erected historic photographs and those of the city's younger residents around town through the art of wheat pasting.

Talk of Iowa host Charity Nebbe talks with Campbell and his collaborators about this project, and the art of wheat pasting which has taken him to places and projects spanning from Houston, Texas to the Louvre in Paris, France.

Jorge Toledo joins the conversation later in the episode. Toledo was wrongfully detained by the Venezuelan government for nearly five years before being released in October 2022. Toledo's story was among several that Campbell has amplified with wheatpaste murals as part of the Bring Our Families Home campaign.

Guests:

  • Isaac Campbell, artist
  • Ellen Alexander, assistant director, Coralville Public Library
  • Wendy Stevenson, digital history librarian, Coralville Public Library
  • Jorge Toledo, former oil and gas executive, resident of Sugar Land, Texas
Charity Nebbe is the host of IPR's Talk of Iowa
Samantha McIntosh is a talk show producer at Iowa Public Radio. Prior to IPR, Samantha worked as a reporter for radio stations in southeast and west central Iowa under M&H Broadcasting, and before that she was a weekend music host for GO 96.3 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.