By Dale O’Dell
Since the invention of organized society, humans have been decorating their living and working spaces. Murals, sculptures and rock art are primary types of public outdoor art. Mural-making dates to Upper Paleolithic times (estimated to be as much as 50,000 years old). Humanity seems compelled to make art.
In Prescott, as well as the rest of the Southwest U.S., our landscape is dotted with Native American petroglyphs and pictographs (rock art), some of which are thousands of years old. Contemporary outdoor art, however, is bigger, bolder, brighter, urban and easier to find. The popularity of large-scale murals in the Western world began in the nineteenth century with ready-made paint. Although artists used paint as long as 30,000 years ago, it wasn’t until 1867 that D.R. Averill patented the first prepared or “ready mixed” paints in the U.S..
The advantage of a mural is its accessibility to a large audience. Murals today are painted in a variety of styles and from abstract to trompe-l’oeil, a style aimed at tricking the eye into seeing three-dimensional space. In Prescott, Dana Cohn’s Granite Creek Trail mural, painted in 2023, is a prime example of trompe-l’oeil.
The history of urban mural-making in Prescott is brief and goes back barely thirty years. The mural on the Salvation Army building on Montezuma Street, painted by Bonnie Casey and Mike Shepard sometime in the 1990s, is believed to be the oldest in Prescott. . If you drive around Prescott, you won’t find any “vintage” murals advertising Coca-Cola or Wonder Bread or tobacco, etc. They, or the buildings they were on, didn’t survive to today. Prescott’s murals are purely artistic and from very recent or contemporary history.
Public art isn’t limited to two-dimensional paintings on walls. Large-scale outdoor sculptures can be found all over the city, with many on the Yavapai County Courthouse Plaza. Many predate the murals in Prescott. Although there are notable exceptions, most local sculptures of people serve as historical memorials of famous people or events. The Rough Rider monument on the Plaza honors a group of young Arizonans who gallantly served their country during the Spanish-American War in 1898. Unveiled in 1907, it unofficially memorializes Captain William O. “Buckey” O’Neill, one of the city’s most famous sons. The rodeo cowboy and horse statue in front of Prescott City Hall, titled “Early Rodeo,” is the work of Richard Terry and was commissioned by the Prescott Community Art Trust to celebrate 100 years of rodeo in Prescott in 1988. The most recent sculpture, found on the Cortez St. side of the Plaza, honors the nineteen Hotshot firefighters lost in the 2013 Yarnell Hill fire and was dedicated June 30, 2024. There is also a mural on the side of the Chamber of Commerce building memorializing the Hotshots. Other unique public artworks can be found on the sidewalks near the Courthouse and Public Library. These historical timelines, created in 1984 by Prescott artist Francis Wildman (1921-2005), were inscribed into the concrete of a sidewalk and walking area.
Most murals and other public artworks today tell a story and contribute in an artistic way to the local history of a community. Dana Cohn, a local muralist who grew up in Prescott, worked with The Mural Mice, a group of artists specializing in murals, to create the “Beyond Words'' mural that wraps around the Prescott Public Library. This piece features a visual history of Prescott. Work began on the mural in 2008 and was finished in 2009.
Dana Cohn will be lecturing about his latest work, mural art and its effect on communities on July 27th at 2pm in the Education Auditorium at Sharlot Hall Museum. For details see SHM’s online event calendar at www.sharlothallmuseum.org/event-calendar/ or Call our admissions office at (928) 445-3122 ext. 0
“Days Past” is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners International (www.prescottcorral.org). This and other Days Past articles are also available at www.archives.sharlothallmuseum.org/articles/days-past-articles/1 The public is encouraged to submit proposed articles and inquiries to dayspast@sharlothallmuseum.org Please contact SHM Research Center reference desk at 928-277-2003, or via email at archivesrequest@sharlothallmuseum.org for information or assistance with photo requests.