Great Gallup Mural - Gallup, NM - Murals on Waymarking.com

In the words of the artists (from the Great Gallup Mural brochure):

When we were honored by being selected for this project, we immediately began to think of how to structure a topic as broad as the history of a community. We decided to focus on the broadest definition of "history" and focused on the facets that wee thought established the community in an overall sense, rather than specific events. Most of the history of a community takes place in the residents' daily lives, for instance, where they work and, importantly, their environment. We chose to emphasize five broad themes - the landscape, railroads, Highway 66, rodeos and coal mining.

We hoped that the shape finally chosen represented the sort of dynamism evoked by windswept geologic strata, providing a format of layers of history evocative of rock formations.

Certainly the dominant feature here is the spectacular landscape seen in virtually every direction from the town. One always gets the humble perspective of humanity's place in nature here.

We felt that the railroads played and still do, an important part of Gallup's history. Emerging from the depths, we represented coal miners - Highway 66 was the major factor in supporting tourism here. Today, it is still one of the vital links of the community.

Now the major economic force in the town is support by the Native American communities of local businesses. In one panel we see a family coming to Gallup to shop!

The western life panel covers lots of ground - movie making (John Wayne was here.) We also wanted to show the vitality of the community with a young barrel racer sweeping in carrying the spirit of optimism that so characterizes Gallup.

City: Gallup, NM Location Name: Gallup Municpal Building Artist: Paul Newman and Steve Heil Date: 2005 Media: Paint on stucco Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and description of your visit. One original photo of the mural must also be submitted. GPSr photo NOT required.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   10/22/2017 datenhamster visited it