A new mural coming to DeLand will prominently feature everyone’s favorite roadside attraction — cows. No bull!
The mural featuring a pastoral field of cows prominently displayed on the side of the T.G. Lee Dairy building on State Road 472 in DeLand was the first piece of art to be approved by DeLand’s newly formed Public Mural Art Committee, at its meeting Aug. 26.
The Mural Committee first heard the cow-mural application July 27. The mural was not approved at that meeting amid some committee members’ concerns that non-cow elements of the mural would not be rendered well, including a tractor and a barn.
Those elements have been cleaned up, and the mural artist, Chris Jones of the art studio Red Tape Orlando, is focusing on what’s important — painting some incredibly detailed bovine artwork.
“The cows themselves have a lot of character, which is great,” Jones told the Mural Committee. “I think that’s going to be our primary subject, the cows.”
The Red Tape Orlando artists also painted a cow mural on the T.G. Lee Dairy location in Orlando. Noel Perkins, of Florida Dairy Farmers, helped coordinate both murals. She said the DeLand mural will be more than a carbon copy of the Orlando installation.
“The DeLand mural is more of a pastural scene,” she said. “Sort of a farm-to-table, to reinforce that idea.”
Work on the mural is expected to begin around Sept. 20, Jones told The Beacon.
The folks at the DeLand plant are very excited about the new mural, Plant Engineer Jason Kempher said.
Work on background elements like the cow pasture will be done during the day, but much of the work on foreground elements, like the all-important cows, will be done at night using projections on the dairy plant’s wall.
If all goes according to schedule, the mural should be finished in mid-October.
And before you ask …
No, there are no updates yet on the T.G. Lee rooftop cow, Maggie.
The much-loved life-size fiberglass cow that once stood atop the roof of the DeLand dairy plant was taken down once T.G. Lee staff discovered the cow’s placement was in violation of city codes.
While the Mural Committee is unable to help the dairy get its fiberglass cow back in its rightful place, Chair Bobbi Baugh wished the dairy representatives the best of luck.
“That’s someone else’s hoop,” Baugh said. “Having no authority on that, I wish you the best.”
