The new set of murals on the back of the Fox.Build Makerspace building at 11 E. Main St.
in feature the artist’s rescue pets along with QR codes that prompt viewers to donate to local animal shelters and pet rescue organizations. St. Charles native has been a wildlife painter since he was 11 years old.
Even before majoring in fine art at Luther College in Iowa, Cudworth was a successful local artist, with work hanging in local restaurants, exhibits in local art shows like Geneva’s Swedish Days, and long-standing murals like the bulldog in front of the Government Center. Cudworth sold his first painting at 17 while he was attending St. Charles High School, which hung in the Manor Pancake house for almost 40 years.
He has since sold around 3,000 paintings, and painted many murals and public art installations. Cudworth has a long history of painting animals, and has even painted murals for pet-related businesses before, including the walls inside the kennels of Ruffner’s Luxury Pet Boarding, a dog day care center in St. Charles.
“I like doing this work because it’s fun,” Cudworth said. “Getting people interested in either donating to a pet rescue or finding out if they would want to adopt a pet themselves, seems like a pretty good cause for a mural.” Cudworth is also a published author, journalist, philanthropist, illustrator and poet.
He has authored several books, thousands of articles for newspapers and magazines, and collections of short stories and poems. Th.