Mural Project Moving Ahead

Story by Carey Head / Ponca City Monthly Staff Writer Photos Contributed by Rick Sinnett

For generations of travelers, the sight of the Ponca City grain elevators has signaled “almost home.” The journey across western Kay County’s farmland is nearly complete.

Stretched across the silos is the gracefully fading Robin Hood Flour logo. Coming close enough to read this often causes thoughts to turn from present travel to home’s waiting chores.

Thanks to a successfully funded private and public partnership, vibrant hand-painted art will refresh the elevators and beckon travelers across the miles with a new message. The "Ponca City Grain Elevator Project" will establish an American Folk Art installation to be painted on the east and west walls of the former Robin Hood Flour grain elevator.

Ponca City Main Street’s Kelsey Wagner retraced the project's journey from a passing thought to a $100,000 public art installation to bring attention and traffic to Ponca City’s downtown district. “This project began with a lunch,” she reports. “John McNeese gathered 15 people in January 2018 who he knew were arts leaders in Ponca City and challenged that he would entertain a matching grant up to $50,000 to help fund projects if they promoted art in Ponca City.”

In February 2018, Ponca City Main Street brought Rick Sinnett to Ponca City to pick out a wall for a mural. “Not even a big wall, a small wall. Definitely not a grain elevator, just a wall. But Rick was moved by our city, its beauty and he just kept gravitating to the Grain Elevator,” Wagner added.

Local art enthusiasts began pledging funds to meet McNeese’s $50,000 challenge grant.

On Aug. 12, 2019, the Ponca City Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to pledge $49,000 of the hotel/motel tax fund toward Ponca City Main Street’s Grain Elevator mural proposal. The final commission vote to approve Ponca City’s contribution of $49,000 was held April 13, 2020.

Mustang, Oklahoma, artist Rick Sinnett is commissioned to create two huge murals on the abandoned grain elevators. Sinnett has journeyed across Oklahoma painting eye-catching American Folk Art on buildings, large and small. The Ponca City project will be the largest he’s created, to date.

Sinnett says, “I’ve painted giant murals, but this is the biggest mural project I’ve encountered. I’m calling it, for me personally, the pinnacle, the mega mural.”

Two murals are planned. “Beauty of Life” will grace the west side of the silos, “Oklahoma Sunrise” on the east face.

“’Beauty of Life” immortalizes his mother and her battle with cancer. After losing two women in the family to breast cancer, Sinnett said his mother was “aggressive with her checkups. She went from nothing at one checkup to Stage 4 at the next.”

He explains, “when I first found out I was angry. The second day I was

very sad. Then on the third day I sat down and started to think about happen,” he says. “But the pain and agony is what makes it so beautiful the good, the bad, and the ugly and the total sum of the three makes -- dealing with the elements, the heights, doing something so large life beautiful.” (and) making it up as we go.

His design began with a simple circle which evolved into a flower “We have a proven track record and are very confident we can make in the middle with eight butterflies dancing around the flower to it happen. But there is no one we can call or a book we can pick up represent the metamorphosis of life. to tell us how to do this. We are, in a sense, inventing the wheel with

Along with expressing gratitude for his mother, the design is “my this project.” way to express my appreciation for life’s beauty,” he said. “I have Over 150 4’ x 8’ panels will be laser cut from his original design, painted it a couple of times. I’m going to paint it all over the world.” scaled up from concept on his computer to 16 stories tall. Each will be

The east face mural, “Oklahoma Sunrise,” will include Sinnett’s numbered to avoid confusion while working at height. favorite symbols of Oklahoma, including wheat, bison, scissor-tailed Sinnett’s system is to find the center of the structure, plumb a line flycatchers and butterflies. vertically and then horizontally. The intersection of the two is the Though the Ponca City project is not his first silo, its concrete “canvas” will serve as the “canvas” for public art that measures 115 planned mural’s center. The stencil panels are affixed to the building from the center and ready for tracing. feet by 160 feet. “Times two, because I’m painting the front and the And his tracing instrument of choice? Sharpie pens. He expects to back,” Sinnett said. go through over 500 Sharpies to

As for prepping the towering complete a mural. space for a long-lived art installation, Sinnett says it’s “I joke about the pain and agony, use “I’ve tried everything else… Sharpies aren’t cheap. I had already taken care of. “I’ve been on the structure and have used drones to assess the the words loosely, but the sum of all three — pain, agony and beauty, is what no clue I would have to spend $2,000 on Sharpies. But nothing works like a Sharpie.” site. Mother Nature has done much of the preparation, sand is my reality. I’m almost 50. You have Once traced, the artist will reposition to begin painting blasted it, if you will.” Sinnett and his art assistant to work hard. And when you produce a inside the lines. He has defined a palette of 15 colors for his art. will count on high-end, 300-foot lengths of climbing rope, along good quality job, it has an effect.” Sinnett plans to use Valspar paint and purchase it in Ponca with harnesses and hard hats to City. He plans to purchase as keep them safe as they work 12 stories above the ground. They -Rick Sinnett much material in Ponca City as possible, including his brushes. also will utilize a 50-foot powered platform, called a swing stage, as the suspended scaffolding. “I primarily use 2-inch cut-in brushes. It’s daunting, pain and agony. We are WORKING at it.

“A swing stage is a very safe, very reliable piece of equipment. The Yeah, it sucks, but this is my method.” people providing it are the people supplying them to Phillips66 in Ponca,” he adds. He continues, “I joke about the pain and agony, use the words loosely, but the sum of all three - pain, agony and beauty, is what

At either end of the platform is a motor attached to a stirrup. These is my reality. I’m almost 50. You have to work hard. And when you motors allow the suspended platform to be repositioned via the produce a good quality job, it has an effect.” operators, in this case, Rick and his assistant. Once deployed, the swing stage will allow for painting half of the design. Then the swing stage will be moved so the remaining half can be completed. Donations of $125,000 was raised committed to cover the costs for painting the mural itself. Phase I of fund-raising exceeded the $100,000 goal and an additional $25,000 was raised to cover

Sinnett credits his love of serigraphy for inspiring him to use stencils additional expenses ensuring the project has more than enough to facilitate the creation of giant public artworks. funds to be done to completion.

“I developed a passion for screen printing. Found out I couldn’t Sinnett is excited to begin the murals. The mural stencils are make a living (by selling an) original print. But I could screen print currently being created, and Sinnett will begin paining on April 1, them on T-shirts and sell them. So, I was able to make a living like 2021. He recalls the memories of his first massive mural project, a that. And it fed my passion. It was what I consider the beginning of my mural painted in El Reno. career. Draw, digitize, add color, and then print - socks, coffee mugs, T-shirts, scarves. It all translates,” he says. “People would come by day by day to watch. They would bring picnic lunches and just experience the process,” he says. “Each person

“I took my knowledge of serigraphy and expanded it into a larger innately took ownership of it because they got to see the process. format. What I do is make a giant fine art print. Nobody does this And I felt like ‘this is what I’ve been put here to do. It’s a passion. I kind of stuff at this scale. To be honest, it’s painful, making everything have no choice, really. Even if I don’t get paid.”