By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
A new mural in the style of an old-fashioned postcard is nearing completion on the corner of U.S. 183 and U.S. 24 in Stockton.
Artist Matt Miller of Hays has been hired by the Rooks County Arts Council to paint the mural.
It is one of the first projects completed by the newly re-formed arts council. The $16,000 cost of the project was funded through private donations and grants.
The mural reads "Greetings from Stockton." Each letter in the word Stockton depicts a landmark or other aspect of the community.
The "S" depicts the road signs for U.S. 183 and U.S. 24. The "T" contains tiger stripes for the Stockton High School mascot. The first "O" contains an image of an oil pumping unit.
The "C" contains an image of the Rooks County Fair grandstands. The grandstands were a WPA project that was built in the 1930s, Miller said.
The "K" depicts a man fishing in honor of Webster Lake and other nearby wildlife areas. The second "T" contains an image of the Stockton water tower. The second "O" depicts the Rooks County Courthouse, and the "N" contains an image of the historic Nova Theatre and bowling pins for the local bowling alley.
The background of the mural is an image of a field of milo being harvested. Pheasants are seen being flushed from the milo field, and deer are standing on the bluff beyond.
On the top of the bluff are the silhouettes of cavalrymen that were placed on the bluff as you enter Stockton from the south. Those silhouettes were installed years ago by the former Stockton arts council.
Miller has been painting for about eight weeks. He has stayed in Stockton in a tiny house that he moved to the local park.
He designed the mural in a software program, using photographs he took of the landmarks for reference.
Nancy Becker, Rooks County Arts Council member, said local volunteers gave input on the design during a Zoom call.
"There are so many like that," Becker said of the mural design, "but we wanted one that would tell the story of our town and our community.
"We hope it's the first of more murals in town. This one really hit the mark in terms of what we wanted to start out with."
One of the challenges of the project was getting the outline of the image on the wall, which is 42 by 17 feet, Miller said.
Miller projected the image on the wall and traced the outlines night after night with his projector mounted on top of his car.
Miller has done two murals in Hays — buffalo dancers at the State Glass Co., 421 Main, and a dragon mural on the side of the Sake2Me building, 803 Fort.
Miller said he has an interest in murals from a couple of other communities. He said he also looks forward to returning to his plein air painting and studio work.
"I just like being outside," Miller said. "That's the main thing."
Miller said he has had a good response to the mural. On Monday, a couple from Pennsylvania was driving through town and stopped to talk to Miller about the mural.
Becker said some community members have been driving by every day to watch the mural's progress. Some had contests going to see what image would be in the next letter of the mural.
"We've had a lot of excitement with both of these projects finishing at the same time," Becker said. "It's been pretty fun hearing from people on both of these big projects that are happening. It stimulated a lot of excitement and curiosity."