NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER
An up-close look at the latest brick art mural by Hatter James Marshall. The mural was auctioned off last year to support Medalta, and now resides at the Cypress Club.
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@mocranker
If you’ve spent time living in the Hat, then you’ve undoubtedly seen James Marshall’s artwork.
His latest work, named ’37’, was unveiled at the Cypress Club recently. The brick art mural depicts a sage grouse performing an elaborate dance to impress nearby hens.
“It’s a male sage grouse in full mating posture, and a few hens trying to look calm near him,” said Marshall. “The mural is a really decent size and the sage grouse fills most of it.”
The piece was put up for auction last year at Medalta, to support the Historic Clay District. It was bid on, and won by Cypress Club members Dietrich Brand and Clint Yarshenko.
“They both bid it up and decided it would look great in the Cypress Club,” said Marshall. “It was Clint who decided what we were going to put on it – we all liked his idea on it.
“I’m not sure exactly how long it took, I try not to keep track of my hours, but it took about three months.”
Marshall, now 81, says art has always been his passion.
“My mother said I was doing all sorts of drawing when I was a little kid,” he said. “I had a couple previous careers. I spent time in the printing industry and I spent about a decade with I-XL as their marketing director.
“When I left I-XL at the end of the ’70s, my wife and I opened an art studio and were determined to make a living.”
Marshall’s work is displayed all over the city and around Canada. He says he sees no reason to retire from being an artist.
“I’m still in good shape and I’m still able to do things,” he said. “I’m probably going to move away from the larger murals, but I still have a small studio where I can do small murals and a lot more three dimensional sculptures, drawing and painting.”
