Christine Sanders said she thinks of her new venture as a collective.
But she has led a group of Denton artists in North Texas Mural Co. over the last year who are designing and painting Indian grocery stores and restaurants across the country. The booming clientele, the travel and the walls-to-furnishings design work are the hallmarks of a for-profit creative company.
“I’ve been painting murals for 30 years approximately, and everybody on the team has been painting as well for quite a while,” Sanders said.
Ten local artists paint murals for North Texas Mural Co.: Sanders, Marie and Chris Goodwyn, Julia Freund, Christy Turner, Laura Markum, Shelly Long, Kiba Jacobson, Camille Green and Brandon Taylor.
In the last week, though, the new mural company has begun a facelift of the longtime mural on the south-facing exterior wall of Denton Discount Vacuums at 507 N. Locust St. Sanders has raised money to spruce up the aging mural and is still accepting donations for the project.
She said she approached the elderly owner, who loved the idea but didn’t have the money to pay for a new work of art.
“I told her I’ve lived here 23 years and I’ve watched that wall, over the years, just deteriorate, and I’d really like to redo it,” Sanders said. “And she said, ‘I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be here, and I don’t want to advertise and I don’t want to pay for something.’ So we said, ‘No problem, we’ll get it funded. All you have to do is pick a design and sign a contract that we’ll have your permission to do it. And she said, ‘If I don’t have to pay for it, that’s just great.’”
Sanders and the mural company team got to work and prepped the 100-foot wall. When they finish, the mural will sport a fence, some large flowers and a redbud tree. Donors will be named inside a painted frame, too.
“It will be an ongoing advertisement for any business that gives us a minimum of $100,” Sanders said.
The busy young business got its start thanks to the Indian markets and restaurants whose owners preferred painted murals to Sanders’ offer to print designs on wallpaper — an option that costs less that bringing in painters.
“That is where the business took off,” Sanders said. “I painted one Indian restaurant, and their contractor started giving my name to everyone. … It turns out that the South Asian business owners value art produced by artists in their businesses,” Sanders said.
“It’s sort of a sign of prestige in the community. It was word of mouth that really got this started. I’d get hired to paint a mural and then get referred to another Indian business owner. I kind of joked that we should have called ourselves the Desi Muralists.”
In South Asian communities, “desi” means “local,” (the term is also used to describe the broader South Asian diaspora) so when Sanders and her team painted “Welcome to Chowrastha” inside a market of that name in Frisco, the owner asked them to repeat the welcome message in all of the major languages they hear in town.
Sanders said that when she gets a job with a business like that, she integrates the logo, the colors and the aesthetic the owner wants. In some of the restaurants, the owners have asked her to choose the furnishings as well as painting the murals. North Texas Mural Co. has left its mark on businesses in Chicago, Las Vegas, North Carolina and Georgia, with two jobs booked in Ohio.
Those interested in donating to support the new mural in Denton can contact the company online.
