15 June 2023
ELLIS, Kan. (KSNW) — One of the stops on the KSN Summer Road Trip was the western Kansas town of Ellis, where an artist is working on a huge mural, so big and high he uses a mobile basket crane to reach his canvas on the side of a grain elevator.
Ellis is the Home of the Railroaders, and the artist working high above the ground is 65-year-old Dennis Schiel of Hays.
When asked about the size of the mural, Schiel answered, “It’s the biggest one, the highest one. I’ve never gone 65 feet before. Maybe 40 was the highest. And this is the biggest one, and it’s, it really is the funnest one.”
“For Ellis, yeah, it’s my last one. It’s a fun one. All my other ones were pretty much history. I did some fun ones, a couple of fun ones, in Russell. But all the ones in Hays are history,” Schiel added.
What was Schiel’s vision for his latest super-sized project?
“Originally started with the train crashing out of it, out of the bin, and then we added, I think we added eight athletes. Then it turned into 17 or 18 athletes. We’ve got every sport covered,” he said. “Everybody’s liked it. They all want their kid’s numbers or their names on the thing, and I can’t do that. But, they’ve really liked it.”
Schiel has also painted several murals in Hays, where he’s lived for 16 years.
“Yeah, 40 years. I used to do work for the Colorado Rockies. I’ve done paintings for John Elway. You know, a lot of sports paintings. A lot of family-oriented history type throughout the state of Kansas,” said Schiel. “My most famous piece is in the state capitol. I’ve done portraits as far away as Wayne Newton in Las Vegas.”
A former Colorado resident, Schiel says he’s come to love Kansas.
“Kansas is an amazing state. There’s a lot of people who are interested in the arts, and there’s not as many critics,” he said with a laugh.
“Well, this is my last big one, ok. I’m going to paint small ones. This is the last big one, you know, unless somebody really, really wants it,” Schiel said as he laughs and makes a hand gesture suggesting he would need to be paid.
Schiel started on the Elli mural about two months ago and says he will complete it by the end of this week. Then, he plans to move back to Colorado to be closer to his grandchildren.