Murals offer bright prospects
Plaza Mayor is getting some fresh paint in the form of murals, with one artist hoping his brush strokes will bring new life into the mall.
After losing his gallery in Piedmont, Bob Palmer, owner of Palmer Studios, came to Oklahoma City’s Plaza Mayor shopping mall, looking for a place to display his art.
He received an offer like no other.
“The first thing I realized was all of the empty walls. As a mural painter you notice empty walls,” Palmer said. “I had not been out here in several years, and I wanted to see what was going on out here.”
When he contacted Kristi Cole, manager of Plaza Mayor at the Crossroads, the two began talking, and he offered to create a partnership with the mall to paint 12 murals during his one-year lease.
“Out of the blue, he proposed the current mural that he just finished, and I showed it to the property owners. They all gave a thumbs-up to the project,” said Cole, who has received positive feedback on the murals.
With eight years under her belt, Cole has seen major changes in the former Crossroads Mall, which only had a 17 percent occupancy three years ago. The mall now has 46 percent occupancy and signed several new contracts within the past month.
‘Make people happy’
“These murals make people happy, which is really what we want,” said Palmer, who said he received inspiration from looking at the community.
Palmer never guessed that his art would not be confined to his gallery and said he was excited to hear that he could use his talent to help the mall redefine itself.
The idea behind the paintings is to attract new customers to Plaza Mayor and help promote the Hispanic culture, Palmer said.
“This part of town really needs something like this,” said Arni Anderson, an artist at the Red Dirt Gallery who helped with the mural.
“Do it big, that way everybody will see it,” Anderson said.
Inside the mall, Palmer has set up his studio, Red Dirt Art Gallery, with other artists from around the area, who also helped with his first painting.
Palmer and his nine-person crew spent three days on their first mural, with its blue sky background and Indian blankets welcoming shoppers as they enter the southeast entrance.
“It makes you feel like you can sit down in front of it and have a picnic lunch,” said Deb LaPrairie, another artist in the Red Dirt gallery who has been helping Palmer.
“I had a couple that walked by, and they were talking about how beautiful it was,” LaPrairie said.
The entire mural took more than 20 gallons of paint and a hundred brushes to complete, but Palmer joked and said it took blood, sweat and tears.
“So far, the public and the tenants here have enjoyed it,” Palmer said.
Looking forward
Officials with Plaza Mayor have been trying to reinvent the south Oklahoma City mall that was sold in 2011 to Raptor Properties.
In 2013, CRM Properties Group, a division of Raptor Properties, partnered with The Legaspi Co. and changed the direction of the mall, making it a Hispanic cultural and commercial center.
The mall is looking to expand the number of community events, after it recently celebrated Mexico’s Independence Day with an event that brought in more than 20,000 people.