(uptempo dramatic music) - The Bottle Works Ethnic Arts Center is a dynamic art facility here in Johnstown, pa.

So we're a nonprofit 501(c)(3), and we serve the community, we take care of basically anything that involves the arts that happens in our facility or throughout the facility.

I've been a Spider-Man fan since I was three years old.

A Steve Ditko fan since I knew who he was when I found out that he was from Johnstown, and grew up 10 miles away from me, you know, that was a big impact on me, 'cause his characters have had a huge impact on my life.

There's not a more recognizable character on the planet than Spider-Man.

When you think about the web pattern on that Spider-Man costume, and the masked face, when Steve created that character, that's stuff that wasn't done.

Your superheroes were unmasked, they were, you know boy scouts, and quite frankly, who liked spiders (laughs)?

So to come up with a character whose face was masked, and had spider powers, and the webbing, it's really iconic, and it kind of changed the direction of the comic book industry when he created that character.

We initially started with an exhibit that was to honor Steve, and honor his legacy in the comic book industry.

Well, that turned into some conversations about how do we continue past just the exhibit, and public art was something that the Bottle Works was already kind of doing.

So it was a natural fit for us.

So we reached out, and got Marvel's approval for the first mural that we did which was Spider-Man and Dr.

Strange.

The second one is the one we're working on now which has a little more of a retrospective of Steve's career, and the characters that he was involved in creating.

When we set out to do the first mural, we opened it up to the community for paint and we scheduled out, I think 10 sessions.

I think we'd need at least that much.

After six sessions, we had to cancel the rest, 'cause the turnout was so huge, the response was incredible.

Everybody wanted to be a part of it, and that has continued onto the second mural.

The first mural was 49 feet across and 28 feet high.

We took up every inch of the wall to make it happen.

And then the second mural, it's 93 feet wide and 20 feet high.

So overall square footage is a bit bigger than the other one.

And then each panel is about five foot by five foot that we're painting on.

So this current one, we have 19 columns wide and four rows high.

(text whooshing) A very humbling experience, it's very surreal.

Steve's characters had a huge impact on my life.

When people meet me around town, and they go, "Hey< aren't you the Spider-Man guy?"

Like, I'm like, "Yes, yes I am," you know, It's pretty cool.

Quite frankly, people need to remember that good things can come from Johnstown.

You know, we're not just the Flood City.

People finding out that Steve was from here, and that Spider-Man has that strong connection to Johnstown has been really cool, and really uplifting, and it's kind of energized people a little bit, I think.

I'm an artist by nature and getting to work on a project like this to honor a creator that I love, and to help this community that is extremely important to me.

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