New mural to commemorate sesquicentennial celebration

By Steve Moyer

Nevada Daily Mail

The sesquicentennial celebration of Bushwhacker Days is just around the corner, and with it will come the dedication of a new mural marking the occasion.

This mural is nearly ready to be erected in Nevada and the muralist, Wendie Lemay, is excited about having her work displayed in Nevada and is thankful for all the help she's received.

"I had a lot of help getting this together, I'm not a historian, so I needed some help with research," Lemay said. "I also talked to 3M and Cottey to see what their plans are for the future, because although the mural is about the past I wanted to bring it into the future as well."

Lemay is struggling with several careers at the moment and although she works at an office to get by she finds more fulfillment in her part-time careers.

"I'm an interior decorator as well as an artist and I have a degree in architectural engineering," Lemay said. "I've been doing the art for about five or six years now. It's exciting, doing something you love and getting paid for it, it's wonderful. Everyone needs an escape and this is mine."

Lemay said her mural, a map of Vernon County with 3-D effects and pictorial representations of local historical matters, will be ready to place some time next week, possibly Monday or Wednesday.

Lemay said she hoped people would take more than one look at her mural. "With the 3-D, something I specialize in, it will look differently to people in different positions," Lemay said. "People might notice something about it standing in a different spot."

The mural is 8 feet high by 18 feet long. "I had it 20 feet long but I cut it down," Lemay said. "It was supposed to be 16 feet long but to get everything people wanted, I had to make it bigger."

Lemay was worried that the mural might be subjected to more stress than normal due to the mural's location. The mural is to be erected in the pocket park on the Square in Cedar Street, where there's a sort of wind tunnel effect due to the position of structures nearby.

"I checked to see that it would stand up to the wind between the two buildings," Lemay said. "There are only two posts there to support it and I wanted to be sure it would last."

Lemay's choice of material is intended to pass the test of time. "It's MDO signboard, a very good plywood for outdoor use," Lemay said. "I used acrylic and latex paints and UVB sealant will be sprayed over the mural to protect it."

The mural will be dedicated in a formal ceremony slated for 2 p.m., Saturday, June 18.