FOLEY – Another mural is in the works to add to the growing number of displays in downtown Foley.
The latest mural would be placed on the building wall near the new flagpole on the east side of South McKenzie Street. The Foley Beautification Board is developing plans for the outdoor artwork.
The board will decide on a price to pay for the project then ask local artists for submissions.
Darrelyn Dunmore, executive director of Foley Main Street, said the board can then work with the artist on the details for the project.
“You can decide on the price,” she told board members. “Then when you put it out to bid to the artists, if they don’t want to do it for that price, they don’t have to submit.”
She said the board will also decide on a theme before asking for submissions. At earlier meetings, board members had suggested a patriotic theme to go with the large flag flying from the new 90-foot flagpole at the site.
“You can frame what you want,” Dunmore said. “Do you want it patriotic? Do you want a ghost murals so doesn’t jump out? Then have them submit their ideas. If you don’t like any of them, then you start over again.”
The mural would join other displays recently placed downtown. A seven-panel 28-foot by 8-foot mural by artist Hannah Legg was recently unveiled in the new Cat Alley space. Art students from Foley High School, Foley Middle School and local home-schooled students also contributed to the project.
The mural includes trains, hot air balloons, the rose trail, art festivals, sports tourism, OWA rollercoaster and pitcher plant bog. The project is a partnership between Foley Main Street and the Foley Art Center. As part of the Foley Main Street Cat Alley Public Art initiative, there are five cats hidden in the mural.
The seven-panel mural was installed on property provided to the project by BrightSpeed, the area telephone company. Another mural was created by spray-paint artist ARCY in April. The work includes the first train to enter Foley steaming into town with many of the crops it would deliver exploding around the locomotive. ARCY created the mural in five hours while people watched.
Dunmore said project supporters are now working to install lighting in the alleyway area between North McKenzie Street and North Alston Street.