History comes back to Bow
This is the first in a twopart series on bringing a mural painted by Tom Talbot back to Broken Bow.
BROKEN BOW - A piece of Broken Bow history is coming home.
A twelve foot mural painted by Broken Bow native, the late Tom Talbot will soon be in its new home, the Custer County Historical Museum. The mural hasn’t traveled far, it’s been in Arnold for 12 years or so. But now, under the direction of Clay Mohr, it’s coming back to Broken Bow.
Mohr and Museum Director Tammy Hendrickson explained the mural was taken out of the former Farmers Credit Services building more than ten years ago when that building was remodeled.
“They took it down. Nobody wanted it,” Mohr said. “My wife is an art teacher. She called and said we’d find a home for it.” He indicated his trailer sitting in front of the museum on Monday. “We came over with that same trailer and took it to Arnold.”
It’s no small task to move the mural or to build a disply piece for it. It measures 152 inches long (over 12 and a half feet) and 40 inches tall. Talbot painted it directly on the wall, on sheet rock. “The studs and the sheet rock is what Clay got,” Hendrickson said.
Hendrickson has notes that indicate the mural was commissioned in 1965-66 by the Federal Land Bank. The words, “Their life was the land and the land was good” are written across the sky above a family win a field and a pasture with cattle. “It’s a pretty cool picture,” Paul Loomer, museum board member and artist, said.
The mural was stored at Arnold Public Schools where both of the Mohrs taught. As retirement approached, they knew it needed a new home.
“We were retiring and cleaning out,” Mohr said. “We wanted to find a place for it in Broken Bow. That’s where it needs to be.”
Mohr talked to Loomer who went to Arnold to look at it. Loomer then talked to the museum board. He said he asked, “Can we bring this home?” and added, “The museum is the ideal spot.”
That was about two years ago.
Part of the challenge was how to display the mural. Due to its size and weight, it simply can’t be tacked to the wall. The idea to build cabinetry to surround and support it was suggested.
“I finally had the time,” Mohr said.
He took inspiration from a craftsman-style cabinet with a large mirror on the south interior wall of the museum. The new cabinet is made to match and its solid red oak is polished to a super-smooth finish. The boards on the top pillars can be removed for the installation of stained glass to match the old cabinet with the mirror.
The new cabinet was brought into the museum Monday. It was assembled against the west wall of the museum’s front room, visible as soon as a visitor walks in. “We want to have the color,” Hendrickson said. “We want people to see it.”
Helping with the installation were members of Broken Bow Industrial Tech class and their teacher. Mike Schweitzer. Schweitzer was a student of Mohrs, another fitting piece to a circle of bring the work home to Broken Bow. Students carrying in the peices of cabinetry and helping assemble it were seniors Nolan Johnson and Brycen Whitney and juniors Coy Griffths and Austin Harvey.
The cabinet was brought to Broken Bow in the same trailer used to take the mural to Arnold more than ten years ago. That same trailer was scheduled to bring the mural to the museum on Wednesday, after press time.
Next week’s Chief Jan. 28 will have the second part of this two-part series on bringing the Tom Talbot mural back to Broken Bow.
Pictured above is the mural by Broken Bow artist Tom Talbot that has found a new home with the Custer County Museum in Broken Bow. Paul Loomer
Below right, Clay Mohr, left ladder, and Mike Schweitzer place the top of the new display cabinet for the mural after members of the Broken Bow Industrial Tech class helped assemble it. Standing on the floor, from left are Austin Harvey, Coy Griffiths, Brycen Whitney and Nolan Johnson. Mona Weatherly
The first of a two-part series in bringing the mural back to Broken Bow is on page A1.