I drove by today and took pictures. I'll put them in my gallery. They painted it in about one day.


http://www.okctalk.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=204

Artists get moo-ve on musical mural

By Beth Gollob
Centennial project depicts images from 'Oklahoma!'
Painters daubed bright latex onto walls of the elevated downtown railway Tuesday, despite nearly constant honks and yells from passing motorists.

Oklahoma Centennial Commission

"We've almost caused some accidents," said muralist Bob Palmer, grinning toward the street. "They seem to really like it."

About a dozen local artists started Monday on a mural depicting the musical "Oklahoma!" to commemorate the state centennial in 2007. Based on soundtrack artwork from the 1955 film version, the mural will portray a typical sunset in fiery shades of orange and yellow, along with farm animals, crops, pioneers and other state symbols.

It's a stark contrast to the monochromatic grays of nearby buildings and streets, said Palmer, who also is a University of Central Oklahoma art professor.

"If you know anything about the musical, we had to create this sort of bright golden haze on the meadow," he said. "I wanted it to be really colorful."

Palmer and 11 other artists -- some former students -- expect to be finished with the $15,000 Oklahoma Centennial project by the end of the week.

The mural is part of a larger project to paint both sides of the elevated railway for the state centennial, said Lee Allan Smith, chairman of projects and events for the Oklahoma Centennial Commission.

"It's just one of the many events and projects the Centennial Commission is doing to get ready for the 100th anniversary." Funding for the mural is being provided by local sponsors of the state centennial, he said.

While painting feathers on a duck fleeing from a fringed surrey, Oklahoma City artist Sharon McCoy said using such bright colors for a Western design is unusual.

"The idea to take these images from the musical and use them on the mural is a little different, a little more original," she said.

Im sorry, but am I the ONLY person who thinks that country "mural" does NOT belong in the downtown of a major city????

Why does OKC always take one step forward three steps backward all of the time? :stars:

I'm resisting that reaction, Hot Rod, but I think I feel the same way. Maybe the other paintings will feature some less cliched aspects of Oklahoma and the city.

It's actually a pretty good mural and the color does make the street nicer, but I'm not too thrilled with the theme either. I'm sure the Stockyards has some space that it would have fit into nicely...

I've always believed that musical really projects a backward image of the state. The fact that it is so embraced makes it even worse. It has been many years since I have seen it, but it seemed to just portray all Oklahoman's as a bunch farmers that break out in to group songs over any little event. When the state endorses it, state song and murals like this one, it just reinforces others veiws that this is what Oklahoma is like. I even thought this when I was a kid and had to learn all of the songs.

I think a better mural would have shown the history of the area, natural settings, or early view of the city (it looked great during the 30's).

Wow, I'm really surprised by the posts so far on this thread.

I think the mural is really cool and my first thought was too bad it wasn't in a more prominent location. It would be an awesome place for tourists to take photos...

What is Oklahoma better known for than the musical? We should have enough self-confidence in what the city and state have become to embrace it.

It's not NEARLY as tacky as the stupid Spirit of the Buffalo statues. I HATE those. I saw the mural the other day and it really stands out and I like it a lot better than the flag on the side of OKCRocks or the mural above the canal across from the ballpark, which is already a depiction of city history, so that idea's already taken.

I usually agree about cowboys and cornfields stuff not being a good thing to promote, but in this case I disagree.

Im sorry, but am I the ONLY person who thinks that country "mural" does NOT belong in the downtown of a major city????

Why does OKC always take one step forward three steps backward all of the time? :stars:
Don't know about anyone else, but I've seen the mural in the past 2 days and I, personlly, think that it is very very nice.

Connecting our past with our present and future ... I like that, very much.

The mural occupies only a piece of the "wall" facing the railroad tracks ... it would be cool for the sequence of events to continue into the next 2 "blank" walls to encompass what some of you have said ... the 30's, whatever. But, even as it stands, I like it and am glad that the mural is there. The play/movie is only a metaphor ... the promise ... of our great state and of our great city (even if the city, in this case, was Claremore)!

But, then, we are the "capitol city", are we not, embracing the whole state and bringing them all together?

What a HORRIBLE idea this is, and poorly executed, I might add. We've desperately needed good examples of quality urban public art for some time, and we come up with cows and geese on one of our most urban corners.

Color me unimpressed!

So what, we're supposed to forget our heritage and put some picasso-esque mural on our downtown buildings? I see nothing wrong with it. It's a little touristy, but that's okay. Big cities gripe because they are "touristy," but then we can tout the same thing ;)

Besides, it's pretty. Not all of Oklahoma is the cultural mecca that OKC and Tulsa are, according to what people would want you to think. A lot of Oklahoma is still rural and this painting depicts that, big deal. Enjoy.

Think about this: Texas constantly promotes their country-fied image, with ads featuring steers and rodeos and cowboys. They do it because they have confidence that it won't overshadow all the other things the state has to offer and because that heritage is a big part of what makes it unique and worth visiting.

I'll know that Oklahoma and Okahomans finally have the chip off their collective shoulders when people stop worrying about stuff like this (no disrespect to anyone on this thread, I just meant there are many in the state that would have a similar, negative reaction).


And as a case in point, I was just in Madison (considered a very cool, hip place) and rather the buffaloes they have painted and themed cows everywhere. People seemed to love them.

I was just with a friend in Bricktown (from Branson, MO), and they loved the buffalo. This is our history and an endangered species (buffalo). I like the murals. They BRIGHTEN the place up, but I do like the idea of a country-past-to-modern-city theme!!!! This is our history in a nutshell: Indian land to cowboy land to oil boom to oil bust to cultural city. It really is more than that, at least to me. Our city is great, and the people on the first MAPS project need their own statue!!!!!!!!! Oklahomans are friendly, homey, and intelligent people (just look at how we got the Sonics!). This is our history, and we NEED to be proud!!!!!

I have to say it is much more appropriate than whales!

Kim

:beaten_fi

although im tryin to shake off my tourist status as ive now been living here almost a month, ill go ahead and answer from a tourists perspective: oklahoma is associated with two things most prominently -> the bombing, and the musical. why not embrace the musical with these murals, it's kitschy, we love it! we take loads of pictures and show em to our friends and then they wanna come visit too! cause um.. besides the cowboy museum and the zoo (which was so hard to find, no signs!!) and the garden, i wasnt sure what else to do with my guests... until i got downtown, they loved the canal and the murals and the buffalo statues and bricktown!! :) personally when i went through tulsa, i was like... this is it? okc was a much different experience cause it was so tourist friendly.

boston has cows all over the place, a nod to our history of the Boston Common originally being used as a place for people to graze their cows... but no one thinks of Boston in that way anymore.. at least I don't think so. :) they come for the kitsch and stay for everything else, so why not? :)

side note, are there any tall buildings here that give u a 360 view of the city and tell u a little of the history? just wondering for future guests...

Well OKC and Boston are totally different, so no, we don’t have any really tall buildings like in Boston or any other city that has a trillion people. The tallest that I know of is the Chase building (some may call it the Bank One building). The only real way I can see seeing the whole city is in a helicopter. OKC is the second largest city by land in the US (only to Jacksonville, Florida). Without OKC suburbs it covers 600+ sq. mi. The funny thing about our population is that OKC and Boston both have around half a million people. Lol

Look at our history and the MAPS projects. They are awesome.

P.S. I loved visiting Boston!

The united founders tower has a rotating restaurant on the 20th floor i believe. But its a few miles from downtown although you can still see it. If you go there, make sure your reservations are around sunset... very cool atmosphere.

Yes, the Petroleum Club, located on the top 2 floors of the Chase Building (aka Cotter Ranch Tower) has an amazing view of the city. The Classen at NW 23rd and Classen also has some remarkable views. Nikz at the Top, the restaurant on the top of United Founders Tower, also features some decent views.

Metro, doesnt the Petroleum Club have some restrictions as to who comes up there?

ill go ahead and answer from a tourists perspective: oklahoma is associated with two things most prominently -> the bombing, and the musical. why not embrace the musical with these murals, it's kitschy, we love it! we take loads of pictures and show em to our friends and then they wanna come visit too! ...they loved the canal and the murals and the buffalo statues and bricktown!! :)

This is exactly why we need to embrace our history and exactly why tourists come here already. It's fun.

Maybe the new owners of the First National Building will open up the observation deck and do a history of OKC like goddessnna mentioned.

I work downtown and love the mural, as one poster said, Texas does not run away from its Cowboy, Rancher heritage, rather they are proud of it and rightly so. This state was built on the backs of a lot of those homesteaders and their children, grandchildren work in the airconditioned city offices as a result of the hard work they put in to building the state. It's not the Cowboys I'd run from, it's the wannabe socialites and faux-debutantes and people too proud to recognize an honourable heritage that I'd worry about. We can forge ahead (wake up, we're doing it) and still be proud of our culture and heritage. I love our city, it's great to wake up, drive by wheat fields, see cattle and come on in to the downtown area to work and check out Bricktown for lunch. Gotta love it, and I do !

Great post, mburlison!

:)

I don't have a problem with promoting the buffalo in general. I believe in wildlife preservation and I went to OBU where our mascot is the Bison. I just don't like the SOTB statues because they are decorated so tacky and they are FIBERGLASS. I'd rather have just one big bronze Bison somewhere.

I'd rather have just one big bronze Bison somewhere.

Maybe Lawton can add one to its skyline?

Your wish has come true jbrown!

There is a bronze mama and calf across from Byron's at 23rd & 235!

Of course, I forgot about that one.

My wife and I noticed last evening after eating at the Bricktown Falcone's that they are expanding this mural that is on E.K. Gaylord aka Broadway. It looks like it will span the west side of the elevated Amtrak wall for another two blocks now. They were working on it as we drove by last night.