The artwork is the result of Fair & Square owners Andrew and Kate Jones teaming up with local artist Andrea Holmes. She had hosted several painting classes at the store and provided window art for it multiple times in the past.
Before being professionally worked on, the mural had a painting of the Texas flag and some graffiti over it along a 4-foot tall concrete section of the wall.
“We saw this graffiti, and we saw it as an opportunity to take something that had been pretty ugly and turn into something a little nicer for the community,” Andrew said.
He said establishing the mural along the store’s exterior wall could show some support for Holmes while also giving back to the McKinney community.
“We felt like with the coronavirus, people are looking for beauty and some positive kinds of messages,” he said. “We felt like this would be a great way to add something to downtown.”
The mural, which spans more than 100 feet, took Holmes about a month to finish, Andrew said. The artwork was mostly left up to Holmes, who Andrew said was given “free reign” to come up with something that represented her work. In the end, the wall was decorated with a Texas wildlife theme adorned with a large sun overseeing the nature below it.
It can be found on the east wall of the store on Johnson Street in downtown McKinney, which is located at 219 E. Louisiana St.
“It turned out to be better than what we would have ever imagined,” Andrew said.
The hope is that more murals crop up throughout downtown McKinney, Andrew said. They engage people who are walking along the streets, and people will stop and conduct photo shoots when they see the murals, including the one outside his shop, Andrew said.
“We would love to see more of what we’ve done here all throughout downtown,” he said.
The Joneses celebrated the completion of the mural with a ribbon cutting in July and hope to have an open house in the near future to celebrate with the community.
“I see public art as a way to give back and an idea that is really a community effort,” Andrew said. “Public art to me signifies a thriving community and community that values its artists and gives them spaces to showcase their art.”
