Exeter’s Mural Gallery

Mural Gallery & Gift Shop, 121 South E Street

In the olden days when my studio was in Exeter and I was the president of the Mural Team, we opened a little store called the Mural Gallery. The idea was to have a place for visitors to learn about the mural project, take home mementoes of the murals, and for the Mural Team to have some income. Only mural artists were invited to show and sell their work.

This past summer, the store closed for refurbishing. Many of Exeter’s muralists are far away, don’t make lower priced art for sale, are retired, or have assumed room temperature. So, upon reopening, the Mural Gallery invited many local artists (whether or not they have murals in Exeter) to participate. A new option is for the artists to work one day a month in order to lessen the bite that the Mural Team takes from the sales (still much less than a commercial gallery, which starts at 50% and is rumored to be as high as 90% in some cities, no thank you).

I worked one day in October, met some new people, had some customers, caught up with some old friends, enjoyed being surrounded by pretty things while spending time in the town where my studio was located for 9 years, PLUS I finished one of the paintings from Monterey.

When we started the gallery, we didn’t have very many murals or artists to participate, so I did this drawing of Yokuts baskets and had prints made for the Mural Team to sell. I wasn’t a muralist, but we needed merchandise, and when we started the project, I told my teammates that I would do whatever it took to make the project succeed. Those first years were tough—the equivalent of having a second job without a second paycheck, a second job which shoved my business onto a back shelf—but the project made a HUGE difference in Exeter.

Since then, the Mural Gallery has sold many paintings and cards for me. I appreciate them enormously!

Today is my November shift. Want to come say hi?

SIMPLY HOME

Big Oak, oil on wrapped canvas, 11×14″, $300

Gallery Hours are Friday, Saturday, Sunday, different each day, in the middle of the day. Might want to call first!

THANK YOU!

Betsy, for keeping me in tomatoes while I worked on the mural. She is a one-woman-campaign aganst artists starving around here!

Jack Elam, who primed the wall for me and never sent me a bill. I don’t even know him, but when I see him, I will give him this picture that I painted for him. Why a flag? Because he describes his painting company as “an American family company”, and that is a clue to me that he would like this little painting titled “Oh Say”!

In addition, I could not have done this mural without the generosity of Bill Sario of Rising Sun, a construction company. He lent that fabulous electric scissor lift and always was available for help and support. Then there was Capella, a Coffee Company. My goodness – they never complained when I hogged a parking spot daily, used their electricity for the lift, their water for cleaning brushes, their building for cooling off, and their place for displaying the model painting of the mural! And Larry Lee Photography was so generous that they gave me a key to their business so I had access to a place anytime the need might arise to go inside. There are more to thank, of course, but these are the standouts in my memory.