As part of the Artist's Way class I'm taking taught by my friend Mary, we are required to have an artist's date weekly where we do or go somewhere to fill our well. Since I love to be with my BFF Caryn who is taking the class also, we have been doing our outings together. We went to nearby Santa Clara to visit a neat historic mural in their city hall, then shopping at a fun store and lastly to a labyrinth in Kayenta. What fun! It will take me three days to show all we did.
This elaborate mural tells the history of the settlement of this area by Europeans, Mormon converts mostly from Switzerland who were sent to Southern Utah territory to build homes.
They planted apples and peaches, raised large gardens to sell their produce to No. Utahans.
Painted by Utah artist Julie Rogers, her mural represents the pioneers leaving their homeland of Switzerland, traveling across the sea then across America by handcarts or wagon to finally settle by the barren Santa Clara River valley. Their family names are listed on the borders of the mural as well as the values they demonstrated in their lives: love, courage, charity, faith, hope, posterity, prayer, work and joy through music, dance and worship. The young girl's apron above symbolizes the fruits of these generations-values and posterity.