Muralist painting way across country

On Thursday, artist Cheyenne Renee Marcus was putting the final touches on the new mural greeting visitors to Main Street Gardnerville.

Marcus, 22, painted the mural as part of her 50 murals in 50 states project that she began in April.

The Main Street mural at Gardnerville Station is No. 6, so she’s just getting rolling on her national project.

The Virginia woman said it takes her an average of four or five days to complete a mural, but a rare mid-September rainstorm resulted in her delaying work for a day or two last week.

Her palette is a 12-by-24-foot backdrop installed by workers from the Town of Gardnerville. She was officially a guest of Main Street Gardnerville. 

“But the town is doing some of the heavy lifting,” Town Manager Erik Nilssen said.

Marcus said she learned about Gardnerville from her aunt Leona Hicks, who has lived here since 1999.

“She messaged me and said you should check out Gardnerville,” she said. “I emailed some people, and it worked out very well. They were very interested in working with me.”

Marcus said she loves to paint landscapes and natural scenes.

“I also like doing things like the one I’m doing here, where Main Street and agriculture are involved,” she said. “This is something that’s going to resonate with the people who live here.”

Marcus said she interned for Old Town Covington, which was the equivalent of her home town's Main Street Gardnerville, when she was a teenager.

“That ignited my passion for tourism and building up small towns and cities,” she said. “I just combined that love of that side of the career with artwork and what I love to do, which is painting.”

The Town of Gardnerville and Main Street signed off on the design of the mural, according to Main Street Director Jen Nalder.

“We cannot express our gratitude enough to the Town of Gardnerville, Town Manager Erik Nilssen, staff Geoff LaCost, Eric Matus, CVG Ground Works, and Curtis & Sons for pulling this off.”

It has been seven years since the murals went up on either side of Sharkey’s during its renovation in 2015.

Artist Beverly Caputo completed her Basque mural on the side of the Mason’s Hall in Gardnerville in March 2016.