Nate Baranowski, the artist commissioned to paint a Tamika Catchings mural on Mass Ave, aimed to honor more than Catchings' basketball accomplishments
INDIANAPOLIS – When Nate Baranowski started researching Tamika Catchings, he saw her impact on Indianapolis as more than just what she did on the court.
Catchings, Indiana’s No. 3 pick in the 2001 WNBA draft, was the one to bring the Fever to prominence. She spent her entire 15-year career in a Fever uniform, leading Indiana to 13 playoff appearances and its only WNBA championship in 2012.
She was a 10-time All-Star, five-time Defensive Player of the Year and is the only player in franchise history to win MVP. Her No. 24 hangs in the rafters of Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
She’s one of the most accomplished players in WNBA history. But she also means so much more to Indianapolis.
In 2004, Catchings founded the Catch the Stars Foundation, which helps local kids with literacy, fitness and development. She also owns the Tea’s Me Cafe, which has three locations around Indianapolis. She still stays involved with Indiana Sports Corp, helping to host events like NBA and WNBA All-Star games in Indianapolis.
That’s what Baranowski, the South Bend-based artist selected to do a mural of Catchings on Massachusetts Avenue, wanted to show in his painting.
“When looking more at all the different facets of her, from her time at Tennessee, to the championship with the Fever, to her entrepreneurial stuff with Tea’s Me Cafe, to her foundation Catch the Stars, and she's also a broadcaster, also a motivational speaker,” Baranowski said, “... I thought, man, if I could show it in these little, tiny snapshots that she's not just a basketball star; she's this great person and force in the community as well. That's what I was hoping to capture in this.”
Baranowski was one of four artists commissioned to make concept art for this mural. All four mural concepts were released in April, along with a public survey to help the review committee make the final decision
That detail, that care that Baranowski put into researching and highlighting all aspects of Catchings’ life is what gave him the final edge.
“As we went through the process of figuring out which artists to be able to have do the mural, Nate stood out,” Catchings said in a video announcing Baranowski as the mural winner in May. “Just being able to hit on so many parts of my career, upon my Tennessee days, to the Fever days, to the Olympic days, and encompassing the Catch a Star Foundation, Tea's Me Cafe, and everything that literally I’ve been able to do since I’ve been here and got drafted in 2001. So it’s cool to see, just from portraits and the backdrop, snapshots of each phase of life.”
Baranowski has always been an artist, dating back to his chalk art designs in his driveway when he was a kid. He turned that into a business at the University of Illinois as a college student in 2010, taking commission to write chalk announcements on the quad.
He originally went to school for industrial design, then got a job as a theme park and entertainment designer down in Orlando. But he knew his heart wasn’t in that type of art. He eventually left his job in 2015 to do art full-time, working on murals, chalk art and other commissioned pieces.
He’s done thousands of pieces and when he saw the international call for concepts for a Tamika Catchings mural, he saw a new challenge in creating something centered around a star.
“I loved the opportunity to highlight someone extraordinary,” Baranowski said. “It's actually a very huge weight and responsibility to think, all right. This is, like, a real person. This is somebody's life, and you want to try to honor them as best you can as an artist. It was definitely a challenge that has been pretty stressful at times, but exciting. It’s all right, it's not just creating art for a Disney movie where it's just like actors. It's for, you know, a real person.”
Baranowski’s mural has a center focus of a smiling Catchings. To the left, there are portraits of her in a Tennessee uniform, holding an Olympic gold medal and a teacup, representing her cafe. The bottom has a portrait of her doing a backpack drive with her foundation, and at the top is a portrait of her proudly holding the 2012 WNBA championship and Finals MVP trophy.
Baranowski and his apprentice, Brooke McGee, spent two weeks in the summer heat, using cranes and stencils to make the project come to life.
Now, it stands proudly on Mass Ave.
Chloe Peterson is the Indiana Fever beat reporter for IndyStar. Reach her at [email protected] or follow her on X at @chloepeterson67.Get IndyStar's Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Tamika Catchings mural on Mass Ave highlights on, off court contributions to Indy
Category: General Sports
