By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
Hays artist Dennis Schiel is working on another large historical mural.
This one, in collaboration with the Hays Arts Council, features the 2017 Sesquicentennial–the 150th anniversary–of Ellis County, and this mural will stay right in Hays.
It has to.
Schiel is painting his public art project on the north side of the downtown Fox Pavilion, 1202 Main. The colorful mural will be about 35-by-60 feet and will include images of Volga-German farmers, Fort Hays, Boot Hill, a buffalo and Fort Hays State University.
Originally, Schiel had planned to paint the mural on the abandoned grain elevators east of the Union Pacific Railroad Park, 10th and Main. But UPPR decided to tear down the dilapidated structure.
“So, I had to come up with another place to paint this,” Schiel said. “We looked around and found three spots. Midland Marketing gave us permission to use their elevator but it’s not quite the right location. Then we looked at the Fox Theatre and the city water tower out by Sternberg Museum–the bottom portion of it.
The Fox Theatre, also called the Fox Pavilion, was selected and Schiel started painting.
He hopes to also paint another mural on the east water tower next year. That depiction of “The Three Amigos”– Lt. Col. George Custer, Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill Cody–would be a nod to the history of Hays.
“This is really fun,” claims Schiel. “A lot of times I work on just itty-bitty one-inch-by-three-inch painting that needs to be done for a historical mural or something like that. This is just sloppin’ paint on. It’s just kinda fun to take the strokes.”
The work is going faster than he thought it would.
“I figured it would take at least four months to do it. I might be able to get it done in two-and-a-half months.
Schiel started by gridding out his design so he would know where certain points are on the massive mural.
“I knew I needed to start three foot down and two feet over on that first panel with the Volga German (farmer) threshing wheat. The next panel will be a change. It’ll have (Hays limestone sculptor) Pete Felten’s buffalo and part of (historic) Fort Hays. But, it’s going to change a little from what I planned, so I’ll just find another point and start again,” he said with a chuckle.
Schiel has always wanted to be an artist.
“I tried the corporate world for about seven years, and then I got tired of that and decided I can do this on my own.”
In addition to his state mural displayed in the state capitol building in Topeka, Schiel recently finished a piece for Kansas State University as well as a historical mural for St. John’s Military School in Salina.
“It’s in my garage, weighs about 700 pounds. It’s just huge.”
Schiel has also painted historical murals for many families throughout Kansas.
He said he’s been working nearly every day since moving to Kansas from Colorado nine years ago. “I did a lot of construction work out there to pay the bills,” laughed Schiel. “But out here, it’s been almost non-stop.”