Gallup Murals

In 2005, Gallup kicked off the Downtown Mural Project.  The idea was to tell the story of the area through a series of  murals.  The result was a series of nine murals on buildings in the downtown area; all done by local artists.  They are close enough together to be seen easily on a short walking tour and are definitely worth the walk.  Below are a few of the murals. 

I won't make any comments on what each mural is supposed to depict.  My knowledge of art is less than nothing since what I think I know is probably wrong.  A simple internet search will give you more information than you ever wanted to know about these paintings.  Some of that information may even be right.

Multi-Cultural Women

Artist:  Erika Rae Sykes

The Great Gallup Mural Artist: Paul Newman and Steve Heil (No, I was not falling down when I took the picture.  It really is shaped like that.)

Ceremonial Mural

Artist: Irving Bahe

Navajo Code Talker Mural Artist: Be Sargent The Navajo Nation as a whole seem to be very proud of the Code Talkers and they have every right to be.  Imagine the German code breakers trying to break a code that was merely another language.  They never did catch on.

Coal Mining Era

Artist: Andrew Butler

Native American Trading Mural Artist: Chester Kahn

Other artwork has been added in the Downtown area making it interesting and colorful.  If you are ever in the Gallup, New Mexico area, it is well worth the stop.

I actually took these pictures last summer, July 2008.  Somehow they got lost and I forgot about them until now.