Deborah Landry, a creator and chairwoman of the ArTour's Public Art Project, can understand why attendees she approached at August's Chesterton Art Fair may have been reluctant to participate in its creation.

"It was kind of like being a car salesman," she said.

"When you go into a car lot, you kind of want to ignore the salesman, because you don't want to hear the sales pitch. And that's kind of how it was with some of the people at the art fair.

"A lot of people approach art as something they can't do," she said. "They immediately tell themselves 'this isn't for me, because I can't do art.' "

The project's end result will be unveiled Oct. 18 at Chesterton Art Center.

Landry made her way to the region from Atlanta last year, settling in Porter. A few months later, she became a board member at Chesterton Art Center.

At this summer's Chesterton Art Fair, which was held at Hawthorne Park Aug. 2 and 3, Landry held court at a booth inviting attendees to paint their own brands of art on 4-by-4-inch plywood tiles. Over the two-day run, she amassed more than 400 tiles from prospective artists.

After the fair, Landry assembled the pieces to create a mural that stands 10 feet tall and 6 feet wide. By her estimation, she spent three days putting the pieces into their proper place to complete the mural.

"One of the beauties of having an art project be community-based is it's where you're reaching out and letting the individuals become a part of something big," she said.

"It gives them a sense of accomplishment and pride to be able to say they had a piece in it, and that can change the attitude of what they think they're capable of doing."

The mural will be on display at Chesterton Art Center after its Oct. 18 unveiling, but Landry doesn't expect her creation to be suitable for public viewing for long.

"The materials we used are not permanent," she said.

"Because (it was created with) plywood and because house paint was used, our goal for it is to last through the winter and into the spring. It most likely won't be up a year."

The unveiling of the Public Art Project is part of several events slated for Oct. 17 and 18 by ArTour, which is a collaboration between the Duneland Business Initiative and more than 20 region-based artists.

Chesterton Art Center is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.