‘Always brighten the corner where you are’

The corner of Oak and Second St. will be getting a little bit brighter as resident Bailee Green is nearing completion of her ’Always brighten the corner where you are’ mural.

The project is being funded by a private benefactor to the Graham Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau who has offered to pay for a series of murals and is sponsored by Ken’s Equipment and Star Six Construction.

This will be her second mural on the downtown square, as she also painted the mural located on Oak and Third St. in 2017, which was jointly funded between the Graham Chamber of Commerce and CVB, the City of Graham, Keep Graham Beautiful, Graham Industrial Association and the Graham Community Foundation.

“We knew we had to repaint (the Third St. mural) and we put together a small committee and asked for bids from several artists, Bailee was one of the ones who responded,” Graham Chamber of Commerce and CVB CEO Krisa De La Cruz said. “She brought in her design, which was the bulls, and explained why she went that design and we were really impressed with it. So, we hired her to do that job.”

Green, who graduated from Graham High School in 2016, said she had never painted professionally before her first mural in 2017. She said she got noticed from her chalk street art and was encouraged to enter a design during the search. She added that the money she has earned from her murals has allowed her to go to college, she is currently enrolled in Stephen F. Austin University where she is studying forestry and recreation.

“Probably one of the neatest things is when we told her she got the (Third St.) job she jumped up and said ‘yay I can go to college now,’” De La Cruz said. “It really was really neat to see we were empowering someone who was going through a hard time and was trying to go to college and she was one of our local artists.”

In the time between the Third and Second St. murals, Green completed a mural for David Flynn behind his business at 1417 Fourth St.

For the rest of the story, see the Wednesday, Aug. 21 edition of The Graham Leader.