- Eight large-scale murals by Cincinnati artist Christian Dallas celebrate American trailblazers with ties to literature, Kentucky and the fight for freedom, justice and equality.
- The library also opened its Patriots, Pioneers and Places outdoor history walk, featuring 15 interpretive panels and QR codes highlighting Boone County’s history.
- Both projects were funded through National Endowment for the Arts and American250KY grants, with the remaining murals expected to be installed by September.
The Boone County Public Library wants to honor national and local heroes on July 4th in a way that leaves a lasting impression.
In anticipation of the United States’ semiquincentennial—more commonly marketed as the 250th anniversary of the ratification of the Declaration of Independence—the Boone County Public Library commissioned Cincinnati-based artist Christian Dallas to paint eight murals commemorating several American “trailblazers” who helped shape the direction of the nation.
The project, titled “In Words and Actions We Rise: Celebrating American Trailblazers,” features eight murals, each accompanied by an interpretive sign mounted along the sidewalk in front of the murals. Each mural is painted on an 8-foot-by-16-foot DiBond panel, which is bolted to the exterior of the Boone County Library’s Burlington branch.
“The point is for people to come in here and know that it’s more than books,” Boone County Public Library Marketing Manager Jennifer Cheek said. “You can come here and learn without checking books. We wanted to expand our outdoor campus and have people be able to sit out at the picnic table and look up at these (murals) and still be in a learning environment that’s not a classroom or a library table.”
In total, Dallas’ murals will use 23 gallons of paint. To increase the murals’ lifespan, Dallas is coating the murals with UV varnish, which can extend their lifespan to over 50 years.
So far, four of the three murals have been installed, each featuring a trio of American trailblazers. Cheek said the exhibit focuses on individuals with Kentucky connections, literary connections, or those who advanced freedom, justice, and equality.
For example, one of the murals is literary-themed and features Mark Twain, Harper Lee, and Laura Ingles Wilder. Another athletics-themed mural features figures such as Jackie Robinson and Muhammad Ali.
The Boone County Public Library unveiled its first murals to the public during a ‘Phase 1’ opening ceremony on Sunday, June 28. Cheek said she expects the rest of the exhibit to be completed by September.
The murals were funded by a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts as part of the ‘Arts Projects Honoring the National Garden of American Heroes’ initiative. In 2020, President Donald Trump established the initiative through Executive Order 13934, calling for the creation of a national garden featuring 250 statues of notable Americans, including Founding Fathers, athletes, business figures and pop culture icons. The project also received a $10,000 American250KY grant from the Kentucky Historical Society.
In addition to the mural project, the Boone County Public Library revealed its Patriots, Pioneers and Places that Transformed the County exhibit, an outdoor history walk highlighting key moments, people and places in Boone County’s past.
The exhibit features 15 interpretive panels highlighting individuals and historic sites that helped shape Boone County, along with QR codes linking to expanded digital content curated by library staff. The project was funded by a $9,000 American250KY grant from the Kentucky Historical Society.
Boone County Library Historian Liza Pruiksma, who was in charge of the history walk initiative, told LINK nky that the exhibit was intended to teach Boone Countians about overlooked figures and events in the county’s history.
“History should be more than just a record of the past; it should be a conversation,” she said. “Who are we? Where did we come from? What will we become? By exploring Boone County’s stories, we gain a better understanding of the people, choices, and events that shaped our nation and influenced the early beginnings of our county.”
