KSHB 41 reporter Lily O’Shea Becker covers Franklin and Douglas counties in Kansas. Share your story idea with Lily.
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Tokeya Waci U Richardson, Oglala Lakota and Haliwa-Saponi, doesn't just want to paint a mural for the Lawrence community; he wants to paint with the community.
In October, the city of Lawrence sought local artists to create a mural on the Vermont Street Parking Garage that paints a picture of Lawrence's identity. Richardson was selected for the project.
“I took this as an opportunity to also teach other people, other artists who are starting out, to try and come out and paint along this mural, too," Richardson said.
He's invited some of his local art peers to help him with the mural, and next Wednesday evening, he's inviting the greater Lawrence community.
"Spending time with the artist is really a valuable community connector," artist Mona Cliff, Gros Ventre, said as she helped paint Richardson's mural on Monday.
Richardson said not every community member will be able to put a brush to the mural, but he hopes everyone will learn something about Native art. Richardson describes it as being sacred.
“It’s definitely something that you feel," he said. "There’s a type of medicine that every Native artist puts into their artwork.”
There's Native American culture woven throughout the mural.
“I specially love the buffalo and how large it is," Cliff said. "It’s kind of like encapsulating all of these different parts of Lawrence and bringing it together. So, to me, the buffalo is the connector.”
Below the buffalo is the Haskell Arch, which stands on Haskell Indian Nations University's campus to honor the 415 Haskell students who served in World War I.
Sunflowers frame the bottom half of the mural and Richardson is working to include a portrait of the Lawrence Public Library. More will be added in the coming weeks.
"I wanted the buffalo to be the major part of what Lawrence has to offer, 'cause there's so many different tribes here and there's so many different tribes that relied on the buffalo before," Richardson said. "Us all coming together now in this modern time is kind of like a victory toward all the oppression that we've experienced as Native people in the past, and even today, where our resilience is shown in that and shown within this community."
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