Musgraves mural featuring Willie Nelson dedicated

By Phil Major
publisher@wood.cm
Posted 5/11/23

Mineola’s latest mural, completed last week, was formally dedicated Saturday morning to kick off the daylong May Fiesta in downtown.

Adorning the north wall of MPrints along W. Kirkpatrick …

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Musgraves mural featuring Willie Nelson dedicated

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Mineola’s latest mural, completed last week, was formally dedicated Saturday morning to kick off the daylong May Fiesta in downtown.

Adorning the north wall of MPrints along W. Kirkpatrick St., it features prominently a larger-than-life portrait of Willie Nelson.

Artist Karen Musgraves said the mural came out even better than she expected.

Her portrait has been featured in the Country Music Hall of Fame, while her daughter Kacey has toured with the music icon.

“It’s perfect for this wall,” she said. “He’s a bigger-than-life person.”

The mural was a project of Wood County Walls, one of the efforts of the Flint and Steel Coalition.

The goal is for murals to bring people to Wood County, capture the images and send them around the world.

“It’s already happening,” said coordinator Todd Witt.

He added that Nelson himself had acknowledged the mural on his Instagram.

Some 33 murals are in the planning stages around the county, he said, 10 in Mineola.

The first Texas Muralist Festival is scheduled in September with six recognized muralists leading each project.

The mural, dubbed the “Willie Wall,” was the work of Luis Valle of Miami, who also directed last year’s Unity Wall painted on S. Pacific St.

He will be among those working in September, in Winnsboro.

“Art is great for our communities,” said chamber of commerce President Kelsie McGilvray. “We’re excited it is downtown.”

Martha Holmes with the Mineola Landmark Commission said that while the commission is all about historic preservation, it is also supporting the future by attracting people to Mineola.

Joe Williams with the Mineola Economic Development Corporation, one of the mural’s sponsors, said, “We are so blessed to live in this community. This is phenomenal for us.”

Mayor Jayne Lankford said, “Y’all have to hold me back when I’m talking about Mineola Texas,” adding that the mural helps make Mineola a destination.