Historic Murals Bring New Life to Downtown
By BEVERLY BRYANT
Ponca City News Staff Writer
The 100 block of West Grand Avenue, normally dark and quiet on a weekday
night, instead was filled with energy and light last Thursday night as
quick-working painters drew bold, black outlines on the brick walls.
These were no vandals at work. The professional artists are working with
Dr. Bob Palmer, a professor at the University of Central Oklahoma, to
bring Ponca City landmarks back to life.
Working under cover of darkness was a necessity so Palmer's crew could
project photographs and sketches onto the brick walls of the Bumper to
Bumper Auto Parts Store. The projections allowed the artists to capture
the historically correct images of the Arcade Hotel, the Ponca City
train depot and other images important in the development of Ponca City.
Many of the artists are former students of Palmer's at UCO who now work
as professional artists in their own rights. Several have connections to
Ponca City and all say they are excited to be working on this project.
"The first night is basically like taking notes," artist Robert Wood
said. "Sometimes your notes are good and sometimes they aren't so clear.
But doing this outline of the projected images helps us to get the
composition ready so we can start painting."
Wood has worked with Palmer for about seven years.
Ironically, the artists working on the west mural of the train depot and
images of Marland Oil tank cars found their work frequently interrupted
by the passing of modern-day trains just feet behind them on the
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway tracks. The passing trains shook
the scaffolding and projectors enough that the artists had to wait for
them to pass to continue their work.
"The train noise is 'very soothing,'" artist Kelley Farrar said with
more than a hint of sarcasm. She is a professional artist and former
student of Palmer's who has worked with him since 2000. She also paints
murals on her own as well as her work with Palmer.
"We've painted on brick before but this is a very textured brick," she
said.
The murals are a great way to capture the history of a town, Farrar
said.
Other images in the two murals are E.W. Marland's Buick and Lew Wentz's
Pierce Arrow parked outside the Arcade Hotel, which stood next to the
mural's location on the east side of the building at the corner of First
Street and Grand Avenue.
Artist Tim Smith recently returned to Oklahoma a few months ago and has
been working with Palmer.
"We're having a great time," Smith said. "People are making sure we are
well fed."
On the train side, the mural shows the train tracks with a Marland Oil
tanker, a steam engine and caboose and an antique truck.
A passenger car with a colorful history is included with passengers E.W.
Marland, Lydie and George Marland. The car was built for the president
of Mexico.
"Pancho Villa took over and E.W. Marland won the train car in a card
game with four eights," said Burton Brandt, who was instrumental in
starting the mural project and serves as a member of the mural
committee. "E.W. and Lydie rode in the car on their honeymoon and there
are four eights above the doors inside the car."
Joe Glaser, the secretary of the 101 Ranch Old Timers Association,
served as a consultant on the colors and style of the train car
representing the 101 Ranch.
Glaser has studied historic photos of the 101 Ranch train cars and said
the colors and styles changed from year to year.
"One year they were yellow with black trim and one year they were
orange. The wording also changed from year to year," Glaser said. "One
year it said '101 Ranch Real Wild West' and other years it said '101
Ranch Wild West Show.'"
Glaser said the ranch had 48 train cars at its peak.
Ponca City resident Judith Vice also is an artist on the project. She
has worked with Palmer for about 10 years and has a degree from UCO in
photographic arts.
Vice said she has taken a couple of years off to be a foster mother and
teaches a free art class for local children.
Working with Vice on an outline of an old truck was Joel Randell, who
was born in Ponca City. He moved from Ponca City as a young child and
has lived in Edmond for several years, working with Palmer for about 11
years now.
"My wife was born here also and has relatives here as well, so I'm
pretty familiar with the area. I work as a sculptor and stop by on my
way to the foundry in Pawhuska," he said.
Work started earlier Thursday with the painting of background colors on
both sides of the building and the establishment of guide lines to
maintain perspective, Palmer said. Since the photographs which are being
used may not contain the items with the same perspective, the guide
lines help Palmer and his crew make minor adjustments in angles to blend
the images while maintaining authenticity.
The building and business owner gave permission for the murals to be
placed on the building, which is close to the locations where the
historic images were taken.
A local committee has worked for two years to plan the project and raise
funds for it. Members of the committee are Burton Brandt, Shelia
Foxworthy, Steve Bookout, Jayne Detten, Mary Beth Moore, Jim Sindelar
and Brian Banks.
The cost of the murals is $15,000, Detten said. Ponca City Main Street
Program has pledged $5,000 to the project through a downtown facade
grant, which must be matched. The committee also applied to
ConocoPhillips for a $3,500 grant and seeks the remaining $6,500 to
$10,000 through donations from the public.
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