When most people think of Muncie, they probably don’t. Still, public art is on wide display here, with works by Daniel Chester French, Cyrus Dallin, and E.M. Viquesney. My favorites are the creations of Richard Kishel. One of his most striking pieces wraps around two sides of the Delaware Dental Solutions building on West Washington Street.
Long before he transformed an ordinary dental office into one of Muncie’s most distinctive buildings, Dick Kishel had already traveled much of the Midwest in the pursuit of art. Born in Minnesota in 1923 as one of eleven children, he studied at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, the University of Minnesota Duluth, and the University of Iowa before launching his artistic career1. That journey brought him to Muncie in 1953, where he came to Ball State as an associate professor of art and taught at Ball State and Burris Laboratory School- my alma mater.
Kishel eventually founded Art Forms, a company that manufactured concrete and fiberglass sculptures ranging from playground turtles, toadstools, and rimp-romps to giant roadside figures. Before long, the business expanded into industrial plastics, which reflected Kishel’s knack for blending art with manufacturing2.
Kishel’s work ranged from intimate church sculptures to oversized roadside icons. He created Muncie’s 32-foot Paul Bunyan and the famous Frank-‘N’-Stein restaurant statues in Northwest Indiana3, among other installations. In 1964, Art Forms produced most of the fiberglass figures for Indianapolis’ Washington Park Zoo4! Those efforts included Willie the Whale, now preserved in Kokomo’s Foster Park5.
I’d driven past the bizarre facade of Muncie’s old Dental Arts Building at 315 West Washington Street for many years before I realized it was a Kishel piece. No less of an authority than the Smithsonian Museum’s Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture describe his work as, “two walls comprised of poured concrete blocks with a bas-relief series of geometric and amorpheous (sic) shapes. The forms appear to represent plants, a sun and other geometric shapes and patterns6.”
In front of the building, I found myself noticing different details the longer I looked. Some panels resemble seed pods, leaves, or tall stalks of grain, but others are little more than abstract arrangements of lines, circles, and textured blocks. A few look almost like fragments of hieroglyphics or totems carved from stone tablets! The artwork wraps around the building’s corner. I still couldn’t tell you exactly what Kishel intended each form to represent, but I don’t think that’s the point.
Kishel appears to have completed the Dental Arts Building bas-reliefs in 1964 as he and Art Forms were busy fabricating the life-size fiberglass giraffes and pagoda roofs for the Indianapolis Zoo7. The dental panels elevate an otherwise nondescript single-story building -first home to Dr. S.N. Slavin’s dental offices8 and the Helen Kirkpatrick Beauty Shop9– into something truly special.
By 1972, the reliefs had attracted enough attention that one visitor even arrived with paper and charcoal in hopes of making a rubbing to memorialize Dick Kishel’s art as if it was an ancient gravestone! The unusual scene prompted longtime newspaperman Dick Greene to explain their appeal: the abstract, high-relief designs invited endless interpretation10. Greene also confirmed what seems to have been Dr. Slavin’s intention all along: the artwork was meant to become whatever each viewer imagined it to be11.
Dr. Charles N. Slavin passed away in 2001. His son, Dr. Charles P. Slavin, retired in 2012. That year, Dr. Theresa Watkins continued his practice at 315 W. Washington Street12. Watkins’ Delaware Dental Solutions has remained a steward of Dick Kishel’s sixty-year-old artwork on its building’s north and west walls. Even if I can’t easily interpret it, those panels remain landmarks today.
For all the attention Muncie’s industrial history receives, its artistic legacy deserves just as much appreciation. Richard Kishel helped shape both. Through Art Forms, Kishel fabricated playgrounds, restaurants, zoos, and roadside landmarks across the Midwest. Through works like the Dental Arts Building, he left something even more enduring: art that quietly enriches the everyday landscape. Even if we happen to drive past without a second glance, we’re all better for it.
Sources Cited
1 Richard F. Kishel, 86 (2010, September 12). The Muncie Star Press. p. 6.
2 Jones, M. (1964, October 25). Concrete Turtles Set Pace for Fast Rise of 8-Year-Old Plastics Company. The Muncie Star. p. 35.
3 Frankensteins Come Big at this Man’s Workshop (1965, December 19). The Muncie Star. p. 37.
4 Davis, S. (1964, March 12). Fantasy Land Built in Muncie Shop. The Muncie Star. p. 19
5 Willie the Whale (n.d.). Atlas Obscura. Web. Retrieved July 26, 2026.
6 Untitled (1993). Save Outdoor Sculpture Indiana Survey. Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture. Smithsonian American Art Museum [Washington, D.C.], Web, Retrieved July 26, 2026.
7 (See footnote 2).
8 Introducing Helene Curtis Tender Wave Touch (1964, March 8). The Muncie Star. p. 20.
9 (See footnote 9).
10 Greene, D. (1972, September 25). Seen and Heard in Our Neighborhood. The Muncie Star. p. 4.
11 (See footnote 10).
11 Events (2012, November 18). The Muncie Star Press. p. D4.
