Mother's Day Mural Was A Big Surprise

Mother's Day Mural was a big surprise AG WORLD Ag World 15-4-18 Frank Ziegler came up with an extra-special Mother's Day gift this year for his wife Mary. He hired an artist to paint a 12 by 20 mural of her three baby grandchildren on the side of a machine shed. The Zieglers farm near Fairfax, Minn. Over a 6-week period last July and August, three grandchildren were born to three of their eight children. Frank decided to commemorate the event by hiring muralist Gary Butzer of Morton, Minn., to create a larger-than-life portrait. Working in cold and rainy weather, Butzer worked over a 4 to 5 day period, using oil-based enamel paints on the side of the metal building. Mary never caught on since the building isn't visible from the house. Whenever they drove by the building on the way to town, Frank would distract her so she wouldn't spot the painting. Butzer, who has worked widely through-out southern Minnesota creating works of art on farm buildings, worked from a photo-graph to create the scene. "It was an unusual job because the subject was babies. Usually farmers want a wildlife or farm scene of some kind," says Butzer, who creates original scenes for most of his murals working together with his farmer-customers. Cost for a barn-size mural is negotiable depending on the scene and the size, but he says the price is usually under $1,000. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Gary Butzer, 171 N. Quarry, P.O. Box 27, Morton, Minn. 56270 (ph 507 697-6272).

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