By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Maddie Deiters is making her splash in the art world at a young age. The Illinois native has already completed nearly two dozen murals in Illinois, North Carolina, Missouri, and soon, in Montana. For the next two weeks, the 17-year-old Deiters will be battling temperatures well above the century mark in downtown Great Bend with a mural on the former NAPA building just south of the 10th and Main Street intersection.
"This is definitely the hottest outside temperature for a mural," Deiters said. "I did a mural around where I live and that was pretty hot. It melted our paint tray liners, but it was nothing like this. Normally, the hottest I've done is maybe around 90 degrees but not really above 100. This is insane."
The Great Bend Foundation applied for a Public Arts and Murals grant through the Kansas Arts Commission. The "Guardians of Great Bend" mural is fully funded via the $10,000 grant and matching contributions from sponsors.
Barry Stalcup, owner of Comfort Pro, now owns the former NAPA building. He worked with Haley Ruble with Freestyle Marketing on the project, and Ruble found some of Deiters' other work. A collaboration with the artist began.
"We talked about all the logistics from surface of the building to surface of the ground, to dimension, to color, to working with the community, etc.," said Deiters. "Everything is discussed."
An appreciation for first responders will be the main theme of the mural. Sponsorships allowed area businesses to show their support for first responders and have their logos placed on the mural. More than two dozen bricks were also purchased via individual sponsorships to highlight first responders and police K9s. Troy's Color Clinic is providing the paint for the mural, which Deiters expects to last for some time.
"Some colors will fade faster than others," she said. "Bright colors - red, orange, yellow - will start to fade in maybe about five years but they won't completely go away. The longevity can be anywhere from 15-20 years."
Like several other recent murals, Deiters works mostly via projection. She and her mother spent the first few days on the project priming the formerly NAPA-blue wall.
"I do all my projections in different layers, so I'm out here pretty much every night in the first week," said Deiters. "I have to project the background and paint that and layer it on. I found out that makes my process much faster. It's difficult. There are lots of obstacles. It's hard to get far enough back. That has definitely been quite the logistical challenge for this piece."
Deiters began working on the mural on July 29. She expected to push through 12-18 hour work days but will rest during the peak hours of the summer heat. Already three years into her mural career, she hopes it only gets bigger after Kansas.
"I would love to start to develop my own style and travel to new and interesting places like Great Bend," she said.
Anyone interested in supporting the mural can purchase shirts through Identifications, Inc. Visit the online shop at: https://guardiansofgreatbend.itemorder.com/shop/home/. Follow Deiters on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube by searching threelineart.