Virginia artist contributes mural to Cheyenne as part of "Fifty for Fifty" project

Jun. 18—Cheyenne Marcus wasn't in Cheyenne for long, but her impact will be felt for presumably years to come.

The reason being that in just three days, Marcus contributed a new mural Cheyenne. This work of art, however, is just a small piece of a puzzle that she is carefully laying piece by piece.

She has the goal of painting one mural in all fifty states by the end of 2025.

With three down — the most recent being here in Cheyenne — she's quickly realized that she's got her work cut out for her.

The first piece was painted in her hometown of Covington, Virginia, where the entire concept of the daunting "50 in 50" project was conceived.

"Walking through Covington, I'm pretty sure that my mural is the third mural to have ever been done in town," Marcus said over coffee with the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. "It's pretty small, I just know the struggle of small towns trying to get their name out there.

"I really wanted that to be a big part of the project."

Marcus selects towns, with the help of local tourism departments, based off of their size and prominence. Small populations with a need for more public art is the most crucial aspect in deciding where to paint her next piece.

However, Cheyenne is a little different, and it's plain to see why. When Marcus was eight years old, her grandmother took her to visit the city based solely off the fact that she shared her name with our state's capitol.

But this work of art is no gimmick. Marcus made sure of that.

"I need the bison to represent something, to really mean something," Marcus said. "The birds on top of its head are supposed to represent a Native American headdress. The piece is calling to those who were here first.

"I wanted to kind of reference Native Americans, the animals, the wildlife and everything that existed before we were even here."

For three months now, Marcus has been living in a renovated van with her husband and their Siberian husky. During COVID-19, they traveled the country in a truck camper, eventually upgrading to join the "van life" subculture — a movement where people purchase vans, renovate them for higher quality of living then migrate around the country like modern day nomads.

Living on the road has forced her to utilize local coffee shops as work stations, sketching out ideas in public spaces or, like she did with Cheyenne, researching a city's background at the public library and museums.

"When you live in a van, your whole life kind of revolves around doing computer work at cafes and being able to see stuff that's in the town," she said. "I can't just sit in a hotel room, I'm forced to get out and see some places."

Being from out of town, Marcus wants to represent a community to the best of her ability, so throughout the brainstorming process she planned what to paint with local artist Desiree Brothe, a board member of Arts Cheyenne and the owner of Cheyenne Makers and Creatives.

As a tribute to local artists, Marcus invited Brothe to contribute a western meadowlark, magpie and a mountain bluebird to the mural, which rest side by side on the blue bison's head.

The reason being that painting a mural has become increasingly important to a cities' character. In the grand scheme of things, public art is now a well recognized tool for marketing a city.

Something that tourists can experience freely and locals can look to as a source of pride is now essential to a community's presence.

"I really appreciated that about her as a person and an artist, just taking that time to learn the community," Brothe said. "It's one thing to say I'm gonna pick the murals and 50 states and randomly paint some subjects.

"It's another thing to tie it back to that community to come in as an artist from outside and try and get to know people a little bit more and spend time learning That is something that I think Wyomingites can appreciate."

Some cities and towns are late to recognize the importance of public art, but with the art initiatives like Paint Slingers (recently rebranded to CultureX) and colorless brick walls scattered throughout the city, Cheyenne can claim it's ahead of the curve for a city of its size.

Multiple businesses replied to the offer of a mural, but ultimately Brothe and Marcus decided on Cleansing Waters Car Wash for its location in the West Edge district.

For years now there has been a push among the community to revitalize this area of Cheyenne, and with major changes planned for the next five years, adding more public art will help bring light to a historically underserved section of the city.

Marcus's mural is, at least symbolically, the first mural to begin the transition into a more colorful West Edge District. Many artists and creative entities already call the West Edge home, but Brothe eventually wants it to be the true "creative district" of the city.

"If you put all of our murals that we currently have in town on a map, there's a huge gap starting from that centralized West Edge area into the central part of downtown," Brothe said. "If you do it as a walking tour, you have to walk a few blocks before you come up to the next one.

"One of my goals is to bridge some of those areas where we do have some gaps."

Multiple passersby approached Marcus in the West Edge District while she was painting the mural over a short three-day creation period. They introduced themselves, cheered her on and complemented her work.

"There was a lady that walked by, she was probably in her 40s or so. She was like, 'I have to get a picture with you,' and she stood there and she named all the flowers on the outside of the mural," Marcus said. "I was really nervous that people weren't gonna recognize the local flowers.

"I'm like, 'Are you a gardener?' She's like, 'No, I've just lived here my whole life.'"

Marcus is currently on her way to her next mural location in Idaho. She has also been in contact with tourism departments in Tennessee, Nevada, California, Maine, Florida and Texas. She will soon solidify plans to paint murals in at least one city for each state.

The project's social media following is currently slim, but Marcus hopes that this first year of murals will grow a presence online to where eventually a portion of the country will have their eyes on what comes next.

Will Carpenter is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's Arts and Entertainment/Features Reporter. He can be reached by email at wcarpenter@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3135. Follow him on Twitter @will_carp_.