Peabody mural going up at market
Staff writer
Jose Faus wants to meld Peabody’s history with its present in a mural he’s creating at Peabody Market.
Faus, a Kansas City artist, started painting Aug. 4 and said he would be done toward the end of the month.
A $7,500 grant from Kansas Creative Arts and Industries Commission is paying for the majority of the mural with additional funding from an individual with the Sunflower Theatre.
Sunflower is the sponsoring non-profit for the project. Peabody resident Marilyn Jones initially had the idea for a mural.
The mural features silhouettes of 17 Peabody/Burns seventh graders — students of Denae Kyle — who chose a character or event to be included in the mural.
“All the kids are in here,” Faus said while painting.
Faus visited the Peabody Historical Museum and met with members of the community to hone his ideas for the mural.
“I presented my idea, and they gave feedback,” he said. “A couple of people have come by to help paint.”
The art on the mural is different than what Faus typically creates.
Originally from Colombia, he has a studio practice and also is a poet, writer, and performer.
He has incorporated Symphony in the Flint Hills, Osage Indians, buffalo, the Flint Hills, the Civil War, farming, buggy racing, and the railroad — among other things — into the mural.
It also features Peabody’s present, such as its 1880s Main Street, the theater, and the town’s popular firework displays — “the best moments that people remember,” Faus said.
“People have been extremely gracious,” he said.
He welcomes anyone who would like to help him paint. On hot days, he works from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and then returns at 5 p.m. and works till dark.