History of city will be seen on its walls

Dan Kulin

Tuesday, July 15, 2003 | 9:05 a.m.

Downtown Henderson will soon be dressed up with one large mural, and a group of citizens is coming together to bring even more public art to walls around downtown.

"The purpose of it is to energize downtown," said Kitty Boeddeker, chairwoman of the citizen Mural Project Committee. "It will become a cultural tourist destination."

A city-commissioned mural for the Sprint building at the corner of Pacific Avenue and Water Street is about halfway done, city Redevelopment Program Coordinator Michelle Romero said. The mural, which will appear as five 9-by-22-foot panels side by side, will probably be put onto the building around the end of August.

The $50,000 mural is being done by renowned local muralist Robert Beckmann and depicts scenes from 1943 to 1953, including magnesium workers, a tent city and the swearing in of the city's first mayor, Romero said.

"I've seen it and I really think it's stunning. It will really set the stage and set the standard for our murals," Boeddeker said.

The Mural Project Committee has raised money privately for as many as 12 more murals around downtown, she said. Those murals, which city staff are advising on, will depict city life through the subsequent decades.

Boeddeker said there is no specific timetable for the committee's murals to go up around the city. Each mural will cost between $10,000 and $30,000, she said.

"This is a big project," she said. "We still have to raise the money, jury the artists and work with the property owners."

Romero said about 14 sites have been identified as potential walls for the murals, including space on the James I. Gibson Library, a 7-Eleven and Bank of America.

Romero said murals also can help attract visitors, in addition to simply improving the look of downtown.

Councilwoman Amanda Cyphers said she is excited about what the Beckmann mural will do for downtown, and happy that others are working to add more public art.

"It will add to the curb appeal of downtown," Cyphers said. "People judge an area by the way it looks from the outside. The mural improves the looks and it will remind us of our heritage."

Murals in Ely have already had such an impact on that small city in northeastern Nevada, said Margaret Bath, vice president of the Ely Renaissance Society.

In the last four years, the society has raised about $250,000 to put 10 murals on walls around the mining town, Bath said.

"They gave this community a new lease on life," Bath said. "There were a lot of buildings downtown that were boarded up ... This gave people more pride in downtown."

The murals feature scenes of the open pit copper mines, the Fourth of July, children and the Pony Express, and have become a tourist attraction, she said.

Boeddeker, who also serves as president of the Henderson Art Association, said seeing the Ely murals during a March trip there started her thinking about having murals around Henderson.