When Amboo Ploy of El Dorado and Peter Johnson of Leon get their artistic heads together some as big as a two-story, half block long mural might develop.
And it has at the northwest corner of Main and Vine in downtown Leon off K-96-400 Highway east of Augusta.
Ploy, designer/painter of several outdoor wall murals in El Dorado who has dual interest in music and art, and Johnson, former art instructor at the community college and operator of the Circle Gallery and Frame Shop in El Dorado for 35 years, were asked by Leon townspeople to help with this May-to-August art project earlier this year.
“The PRIDE people got me into this,” said Ploy.
After listening to members of the Leon PRIDE group about what should be included in a “Past to Present” panorama mural of the town, Johnson sketched out a potential design for the south side of the former Shack building in Leon.
“We met and bounced ideas off one another before moving to a sketch,” said Johnson.
An overhead projector was used to shine transparencies on to the building so that tracing of areas could be done on Some refinements have been made in the objects and others are altered “on the fly” by the two artists who are supervising the paint work by mostly amateur volunteers from the community.
The workforce has received some donations for paint and some cash for supplies.
Since May, they’ve been filling in the delineated areas with colors close to the design.
It has involved youth as well as adults of the community who paint on Saturdays and Tuesdays.
Weather permitting, the next community painting session are set for 6 p.m. next Tuesday and 8 a.m. on Saturday, June 27.
“On Saturdays, we paint until it gets too hot,” says Ploy.
Anyone who would like to help can call Debbie at Fleming Feed & Grain in Leon at 316-742-3411.
Augusta, Kan. —
