Bloomington resident Cassaundra Huskey petitions for Jake’s Wall

For years, Cassaundra Huskey spent 30 minutes on an elliptical each day staring at the same blank back wall of Jake’s Nightclub from the confines of Cardinal Fitness.

“I thought instead of staring at this wall, maybe I could get something done,” she said.

Huskey started a project titled “Jake’s Wall” to try to paint a mural on what she describes on the project grant application as a “glaring spot of blight in an otherwise thriving district of the city.”

Huskey teamed up with artist Laura Brikmanis, an IU graduate, and together they came up with an idea for what the mural should look like.

“We tried to think of something that would be appealing to Bloomington, so I was like, ‘What about flowers?’” Huskey said. “I like it because it’s universally appealing, it doesn’t appeal to a specific school or sports team and the colors don’t appeal to any particular group.”

Besides it being a practical design, Huskey said the design also has a symbolic meaning.

“We like that the flowers are blooming like the city of Bloomington,” Huskey said.
Huskey, a San Diego native and now commercial real estate appraiser, said initially when she moved to Indiana, she hated it. But after moving to Bloomington, her feelings changed.

“Now, I love this town,” Huskey said. “I felt like I wanted to do something to see the community thrive.”

Today, the project is in the works. Wednesday afternoon, Huskey presented the project to the Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association to apply for funding.

“I’m not confident we’ll get the funding yet,” Huskey said. “We still need more outside support.”

While she’s waiting to hear back from the BUEA committee next month, Huskey is jumping around to different online funding sites. Her current site is an Indiegogo campaign, but it ends next week.

Huskey admitted the timeline is much longer than she initially planned, and the project is taking more work than she had intended. Still, she said she is sticking to her guns.

“It’s taking some time,” Huskey said. “The only other option is dropping the ball, and then nothing will happen and nothing changes. In the end I think the change will be well worth the cost.”

Follow IU Auditorium reporter Janica Kaneshiro on Twitter @janicakaneshiro.