The Village of Covington is proud to announce the completion of its newest community mural located at the corner of Spring Street and High Street, Covington, OH. This mural was completed in roughly 15-days, 70+hours of work by the artist (Dawn (Flory) Babylon), with an additional 47+ hours by 12 artist assistants and more than 50+ residents.
The mural was created to serve as an interactive exploratory experience through art, supporting downtown revitalization and enhancing public space, honoring historical relevance, and to bring the community together.
We invite everyone to visit the mural, take a photo, and experience this newest addition to the Village of Covington. We encourage residents and visitors to explore our downtown, support local businesses, and enjoy all that our community has to offer.
THANK YOU!
The Village of Covington extends its sincere appreciation to everyone who helped make this project possible, including but not limited to the following:
This mural was made possible by the dedicated volunteers, artist’s, donations, businesses, committees, Council, Staff, and community involvement
PHOTOS
COVINGTON-NEWBERRY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
*Articles and photos provide by the Covington Newberry Historical Society*
To learn more about the Great Covington Elephant Hunt, be sure to visit the Covington-Newberry Historical Society Facebook page or in person located at 101 East Spring Street, Covington OH 45318. Open First and Third Sundays 1:00-4:00pm, Second and Fourth Wednesdays 5:00-7:00pm.
–>CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR VERY OWN – “I SURVIVED THE GREAT COVINGTON ELEPHANT HUNT” SHIRT GRAY
–>CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR VERY OWN – “I SURVIVED THE GREAT COVINGTON ELEPHANT HUNT” SHIRT YELLOW
ABOUT THE ARTIST
The artist, Dawn (Flory) Babylon has been interested in most anything that expresses visual creativity since she was a young girl. She is the oldest child of Bill and Betty McKibben and is a 1989 Covington High School graduate. Dawn attended Covington Exempted Village Schools K – 12 and was fortunate to have a teacher that inspired her more than she realized at the time. Janie Gildow, a gifted colored pencil and watercolor artist, was her teacher in both junior high and high school. To this day, Dawn credits her enjoyment of art history to HS art with Mrs. Gildow.
After high school she attended the School of Advertising Art in Kettering, currently known as The Modern College of Design. There Babylon enjoyed designing logos, inking line drawings and grew in her application of illustration. She married and occasionally worked as a freelance artist, while raising four children. Babylon taught classes at The Troy Hayner Cultural Center for nearly 20 years. She currently teaches art at Troy Christian Elementary and The Miami County Cooperative Learning Center. In 2024 Dawn curated her own art show called Wild & whimsical at The Troy Hayner Cultural Center. A large number of her works were on display and for sale to the public for an extended period of time.
Artist Statement…
The changing seasons, chasing a country sunset, taking photos of God’s beauty while strolling through nature. Camping, bike rides, adventures on the Harley with my husband Tom, and time spent with family and friends. These are some things I gravitate toward, to get me through my days. I have been blessed with a busy life, a wife, a mother, a teacher. Time to create was not always at the forefront of my life but has always remained a desire. Life’s journey often does not go as planned and in that I have found a renewed love in the pages of my sketchbook. After my first husband Eric passed, I was searching for something to bring me comfort and found just that in a sketchbook. Going back to my roots from art school in the early 90s. I purchased a new set of brush-tipped water-based pens and have spent the past several years reconnecting with my art. Creating visual texture and whimsy has been therapeutic, a safe place to get lost. Creating colorful, happy images of God’s creatures, big and small. The pain of loss continues to live inside me, but joy and sorrow can coexist, and I have found much needed peace in a big comfy chair, in my home-based studio. A pup snuggled beside me and a multitude of colored brush pens in hand.
About Dawn’s Artwork…
Beautiful palettes of color and striking shades of contrast are how Dawn would describe the saturated pages in her sketchbook. Pieces of her work carry gentle humor and are fanciful with the suggestion of magic or childlike innocence. Sometimes delicate and quaint, but other times somewhat surreally out of place. Babylon has spent the last several years working with water-based pens creating her own unique whimsical style. She loves to represent light by blending values of color. She moves the viewer’s eye and creates the illusion of space in her sketches, placing objects in the foreground and background. She creates visual texture by brushing on layers of watercolor, using short dabs, long strokes and twirls her brush to make overlapping circles. Often having to pause, close her sketchbook and allow time to dry, avoiding overworking the paper. She finishes her pieces with fine point pens to add definition and additional shading through hatching and stippling.
About the Mural…
Dawn (Flory) Babylon is creating art for herself these days, but is always excited to share her work with others. She was super excited when it was brought to her attention that the Village of Covington was looking for a local artist who may be interested in creating a mural for the town. Dawn stated… “I have always been drawn to towns with murals. I know I am not alone in this. I am excited about the prospect of being part of something that can add to the culture and beautification of the town that I grew up in and call my home.” After bouncing around ideas with other members of the community, it was quickly decided that Dawn would create a mural that would be interactive and fun. Something vibrant and welcoming, that would preserve a snippet of history, create conversation, add community foot traffic and beautify a space. The “1982 great elephant escape” was mentioned and Dawn knew immediately this was the mural she wanted to create. As a child, Dawn recalls a very early morning visit to watch the rising of the giant circus tent in the grassy area behind the elementary school building. The flying trapeze artists that performed death defying acts high above the audience, were her favorite act. And then there were the elephants. These massive animals did not disappoint, as they showed off their tricks, performing complex balancing routines and headstands in the middle of the big top circus ring. The morning after Dawn attended the circus, she learned of the great chase that had happened overnight and could only imagine the faces of the people who were privileged to see these beautiful beasts run free.
Dawn would like to thank everyone from the community that volunteered to help with this special mural! It truly became a community project! She would also like to thank those who honked, waved and gave a thumbs up. Those who stopped because they wanted to know the elephant story, those who stopped by to tell their version of the elephant story and those who rolled down their window, to say… you’re doing a great job! Such special memories have been created during this project. Thank you to The Village of Covington and a big thank you to John and Deb Hackett for volunteering their building for the mural. Thank you! Thank you!
Dawn hopes that her creation of “Hoxie” running under the railroad overpass and through a flower garden will leave a smile on your face for years and that this is the first of many more public murals to come, in Covington, Ohio.
