New mural planned for levee to feature iconic Pueblo chile
A new Pueblo chile mural will soon be coming to the levee.
Shannon Palmer, who publicly goes by her artistic name "Deadhand," is raising $2,000 through GoFundMe to paint a mural featuring the iconic Pueblo chile in various colors, shapes, and sizes.
"I love growing chiles, I live out in Pueblo County with my husband and we do 20-40 chile plants every year. I love cooking with them, I love everything about them," Deadhand said in an interview with the Chieftain.
Deadhand took notice that the Pueblo chile was missing from the levee and felt it belonged on the wall. After submitting the idea to the Pueblo Conservancy District it got approval, Deadhand said.
After securing funding for the project, Deadhand said that on average, her past murals have taken four to six months to complete. The artist will spend about two days a week out on the levee during the course of a project.
This is the Deadhand's fourth mural to be featured on the levee.
In 2022, she created a mural depicting several buildings where St. Mary Corwin Hospital has been located in honor of the hospital's 140th anniversary. The levee mural also features a skull on the left side of the mural and a fetus on the right.
"I worked at Corwin for a couple of years, and it just has this energy about it. I wanted to show the hospital as kind of a portal — people are born there, people die there, so I wanted it to have that duality about it," she said.
The 2022 mural was also a show of skill for the artist. "I didn't primer the background, I wanted it to just pop out of the concrete, so I just sketched out exactly what I needed to primer, and (challenged myself): 'Can I make something symmetrical, free-handed on a curved surface?'" she said.
In 2023, Deadhand also worked with Desiree Talmich to recreate a painting of Teresita Sandoval in mural form. Sandoval was one of the founding members of the El Pueblo Trading Post in 1842 and was crucial to the post's daily operations.
The original painting recreated was designed by Arlette Lucero, the former artist in residence at History Colorado Center in Denver.
Deadhand urged anyone interested in submitting their own projects to submit their ideas to pueblolevee.org.
"We are trying to get the world record back — Pueblo used to have the world's longest mural here before they did renovation — so please come out and paint," Deadhand explained.
As of Thursday, Deadhand had raised $660 toward the $2,000 goal.
More mural news: Pueblo artists to be honored by Gov. Jared Polis for commitment to the arts in Colorado
Questions, comments, or story tips? Contact Justin at Jreutterma@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @jayreutter1.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo artist Deadhand plans spicy addition to Pueblo Levee Murals
