Katie Trainer and her mural at the PA Department of Labor & Industry.
On the fifth floor of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) building in downtown Harrisburg, where many department employees gather to enjoy a midday break during the work week, a 400-square-foot mural stretches across the wall.
From iron mines to railroads, agriculture, factories and COVID-19 frontline workers, it tells the state’s story of labor throughout history.
“Murals make people take ownership of spaces,” said artist, author, magician and all-around creative, Katie Trainer, who built an idea into an eye-capturing piece of art. “It takes a blank wall and transforms it into something not to turn your head away from, but to turn your head toward.”
Take a closer look at the wall-to-wall painting, and you’ll see evidence of the care and intentionality that went into it. Each image in the scene was a real moment in time—a photograph that Trainer resurfaced from the PA State Archives during her countless hours of research. Vibrant greens blend into yellow, blues, smokey blacks and a rainbow of colors in between with the careful brush strokes of 200-plus government employees who, as part of the department’s ongoing story, helped paint it.
“Katie was great about working with everyone and meeting them where they were so that they could be a part of the project. Her artistic eye laid the framework, but she gave the employees freedom to make it their own, which was fun,” said Tara Schlenker, director of transformation for L&I. “Then, seeing the pieces come together—taking a step back and seeing the whole mural—it was breathtaking.”
Facilitated by Perry County Council of the Arts (PCCA) and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, with which Trainer is a teaching artist tasked with engaging communities in hands-on artistic experiences, this project for L&I was mural number 97 since she serendipitously started in 2017.
“She has created a lot of murals with the help of other people, and I think that is really fantastic because it shows her not only as an artist but also as an art advocate and a leader,” said PCCA Arts in Education Coordinator Rachel Barron. “Her creative process truly comes from a love of art and a love of people.”
Do Everything
Much like a mural that is layered into a masterpiece, Trainer is multifaceted in her creative endeavors, eager to try a little bit of everything. She dabbled in acoustic rap, traveled the world doing magic as a street performer, wrote a philosophical travel novel titled “What are the Chances?” and then pivoted to art when sickness and injury slowed her down.
During this time, she created an art series called “Theoretical Science Meets Art” and informally exhibited it on central Pennsylvania streets, asking for small donations in exchange for her artwork. While sharing her creations in West Reading, she crossed paths with a mural developer who expressed interest in one of her pieces, a graphite-and-ink drawing that Trainer titled “Fibonacci Shell.”
“I want you to make this into a mural,” she remembered him saying.
Not the type to turn down a challenge, she got to work metamorphosing her small sketch into a large-scale painting, and nearly six years later, she’s still thinking big.
“I went from being a homeless magician to an award-winning muralist in a year,” Trainer said, shaking her head, still in blissful disbelief.
In 2018, the Cherry Street Mural Corridor in West Reading, which included Trainer’s first mural, won a Pennsylvania Downtown Center Townie Award for “Best Revitalization of a Public Space.” Recently, she was also recognized for her artistic abilities by the Lebanon County Commission for Women and will be a 2023 inductee into the Lebanon County Women’s Hall of Fame.
Murals may have taken Trainer by surprise, but curious and wandering in nature, she knew she never wanted to land in a traditional 9-to-5 office job. At the core, she admits it’s not all that surprising.
“There’s no way I want to do any one thing for the rest of my life,” Trainer said. “I want to do everything all the time.”
For her, it’s less about what she does and more about why she does it.
“I’m passionate about figuring out how to make my life’s energy go the furthest it can. How can I either inspire or create something that’ll stimulate future expansion or positivity?” Trainer said. “You never really know how far your energy is going to go when you work with other people, which I like to refer to as ‘inspirational rendezvous.’”
For now, murals are the means through which Trainer is investing her energy, and she’s committed to giving it the time and space needed to radiate as far as possible. Painting in 33 states so far, she hopes to embark on a mural tour soon to check off all 50—meeting new people along the way and remaining open-minded to where life may lead her next.
“I don’t think ‘muralist’ is the end of the story for me,” Trainer said. “I feel like there’s something else that will emerge alongside being a muralist. Maybe I’ll interweave magic and murals somehow. Maybe I’ll write another book. I’m not really sure what the rest is yet, but when the time is right, I’m sure I’ll find it. Or, it will find me.”
For more on Katie Trainer’s artistic endeavors, follow her on Facebook: Katie Trainer Murals.
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