Percy Irons helps beautify the Moroa Public Library with a public art mural that we all can visit

Jeff Williams:
Welcome to Community Voices, a production of NPR Illinois. I'm your co-host Jeff Williams. In the studio with me today, Percy Irons. Hello, Percy.
Percy Irons:
Hello.
Jeff Williams:
Leslie Irons. Hello, Leslie.
Leslie Irons:
Hi.
Jeff Williams:
And what brings you both in the studio from Macon?
Leslie Irons:
Maroa.
Jeff Williams:
Maroa, okay. Maroa, Forsyth. Dust Storm. They said on their way over, there's some dust kicking up. We just had an alert go off as a matter of fact. Yesterday I was buying one and it was crazy. The visibility was pretty man.
Leslie Irons:
Awful because it was still small, but it was getting there. It was working up to it.
Jeff Williams:
Man, oh man. I actually decided to just stay off the interstate. I just took some state roads yesterday just because I was like, there's less vehicles, you know what I mean? I was like, I'm not sure. I was like, I'm not sure which way to go with this. Glad you made it here safely.
Percy Irons:
Thank you.
Jeff Williams:
So, what brings you both in today?
Percy Irons:
I painted a mural at our local library for the children's section.
Jeff Williams:
Right on, yeah.
Percy Irons:
And that is why.
Jeff Williams:
Right on. That's awesome. So how did it all come about, like the beginning of the idea for the mural?
Leslie Irons:
Actually, I work at the library, I'm an assistant librarian at the Maroa Public Library, and we just had a blank empty wall back there in the children's section, and we were trying to decide what to do with it. Do we make it an art wall for the kids? Do we put a mural? And we ended up landing on a mural, and we actually hung up an interactive airplane at the bottom that kids can play with, kind of like you see in doctor's offices that have all the little fidget things on.
Jeff Williams:
Okay, yeah.
Leslie Irons:
And then Percy is an artist and has been for years. So, we reached out to them with ideas and they came up with a few sketches and it kind of went from there.
Jeff Williams:
Love it, love it. So, can you kind of explain, since people are listening right now, kind of like what the mural looks like?
Percy Irons:
Yeah, it is. We wanted to make it themed around the airplane. It went through a couple of versions. Originally it was going to be a tree.
Jeff Williams:
Oh, okay.
Percy Irons:
And then they eventually got the airplane. So, we switched it. But there is, it's like a mountain backdrop. There is mountain peaks with the airplane, and then there is a helicopter, a hot air balloon, and a like old style plane.
Jeff Williams:
Nice, right on. And it looks like it's kind of like along a very horizontal, like a horizontal wall, right? It stretches pretty long. Do you remember how approximately how tall it was?
Percy Irons:
You took the measurements, but I don't know if I remember. I think It was 12 foot long, 8 foot high, maybe.
Jeff Williams:
Oh… something like that.
Leslie Irons:
Probably a little taller than 8 feet, but
Percy Irons:
something like that, yeah.
Jeff Williams:
I actually did a mural at the Lincoln Library here in Springfield, so by the creator's lab or the co-lab up on the third floor. So, I feel on that, making the murals. Was there Getting up and down on ladders that you had to do. Oh yeah. I had this other, a couple who does murals, trackside murals, and they both were like, oh my God, we started at Lindsay, actually, she was like, oh, you're giving me trauma about getting up and down on those ladders. It's like you have to, because it is crazy, because when you get up on one and you do something, When you're there, you can't really tell. you can't get the perspective. So you got to get off the ladder. You just take the step back. Like around how long did it take you to do the mural?
Percy Irons:
From beginning to end, from tracing everything out into painting and all of that, like 4 days, I think. Oh, wow, that's around 4 1/2, 13 to 14 hours.
Jeff Williams:
Okay, yeah, that's fast. It's faster than mine was, let me tell you. I still have to go over there and sign it. It's been a while. It's been a while. They just asked to get signed. So, in the color concept?
Percy Irons:
I drew colors from the plane, like kids toy thing. There was orange, red, green, and yellow.
Jeff Williams:
Okay.
Percy Irons:
I used those mainly for colors for all of the things that were in the sky. And then the clouds and the mountains were like a turquoise-y blue and white.
Jeff Williams:
Okay. And was it like, so when you were working on it a lot of times, was the library open still?
Percy Irons:
Yes.
Jeff Williams:
So, people were kind of coming by, they'd see the work in progress?
Percy Irons:
Yeah, there were a couple people who came by to see it.
Jeff Williams:
Right on. Do you like that kind of? I kind of like when people come by. Sometimes it's like. It's cool when they talk for a little bit, then I feel like they're watching too much sometimes too.
Percy Irons:
Yes.
Jeff Williams:
Have you done any murals before?
Percy Irons:
No, this was my first one. So, I kept it pretty simple for that reason, which is why there was only a couple of colors. But yes, it was my first time doing it. I am mainly a digital artist. I can do traditional work, but I really don't a lot of the time. I have painted in the past, but it has been a very long time since I have actually like painted paint and canvas.
Jeff Williams:
Right, So that's another thing about it. It's pretty physical. You know what I mean? It's pretty physical when you start working on a larger, like a larger piece. Because if you do work on a canvas, even if it's a larger, like a larger, like a 30 by 40 inch canvas, so it's pretty good size. it still isn't quite like the physicality of getting, of a large project like that.
Leslie Irons:
After the first night, that next morning, they were like, I'm hurting.
Jeff Williams:
Oh yeah?!
Leslie Irons:
Going up in the ladder so much, they just, they weren't used to that.
Jeff Williams:
Oh, it absolutely. So, if people were going to go over to see the mural, What's the location?
Leslie Irons:
Yeah, it's in Moroa. It's 305 East Garfield Street in Moroa, Illinois. Our hours are 9 am to 6 pm, Tuesday through Thursday, 9 am to 3 pm on Friday, and 9 am to 1 pm on Saturdays.
Jeff Williams:
Right on, that's cool. Yeah, people have to get over there and check that out. Then I'll have to come over and check it out.
Leslie Irons:
You know, even our adults were over there playing with the airplane, and we were getting giggles out of them. Oh, really?
Jeff Williams:
OK.
Leslie Irons:
Just for kids.
Jeff Williams:
Right, No, that's good. Definitely. Do you think about maybe at some point doing another mural?
Percy Irons:
I probably would because I honestly did have a lot of fun with it and have been wanting to paint more because of it.
Jeff Williams:
Because of it. Yeah. That's cool. That's cool. Well, that's what because I do a lot of digital artwork. I was a graphic designer for quite a while here at the university too before I started doing this. But I also painted. I run a small art gallery here in Springfield. but I kind of would bounce back and forth between the digital and the analog, the traditional, traditional ways. Do you think any would be in a different part of the library, like where you keep it going? I've thought about that before where it's like, could keep this going. I'm not saying, I'm just asking. I'm not saying that.
Leslie Irons:
We don't have a lot of empty wall space.
Jeff Williams:
Oh, we don't know about that. Okay, so probably wouldn't be.
Percy Irons:
Yeah, most of the walls are covered by windows, so windows and books.
Jeff Williams:
Yeah, so that makes it have to move to the outside of it then. my goodness. Okay, once again, we're in the studio with Leslie Irons, Percy Irons. Percy did the mural at the Maroa, it's called the Maroa Public Library. Maroa Public Library, right on, that's on display. You can go over there and see it if you happen to be passing by the Maroa Forsyth area, right?
Leslie Irons:
Yeah.
Jeff Williams:
That's a little like north of Decatur.
Leslie Irons:
Yeah, not far.
Jeff Williams:
I had to go deliver a painting to a gallery over in Champaign. And like I said, I kind of like sometimes just tooling around on back rd. So I went through Warrensburg, or where? There's a town.
Leslie Irons:
Warrensburg, Latham, Mount Pulaski?
Jeff Williams:
Warrensburg. Okay, so Warrensburg, there was a little like a garage, or it was a little like a garage sale. It was going on at a church. I found myself a nice shirt out of that. I'm kind of happy about it. Sort of a nice. Sort of lavender. I actually wore it for 2 1/2 days. I liked it so much right after I bought it, put it on and it felt really comfortable and I wore it and I was like, okay, maybe I need to take this thing off and take a shower. So anyhow, so you, when did you start to become involved in art overall?
Percy Irons:
It's been about 8 years since I started taking it more like seriously, like learning. Everything. I've definitely it's always fun to look back at old art and then see the progress and stuff. That's part of the reason why I like redrawing old stuff, because you can really see the difference between the two.
Jeff Williams:
Right on.
Percy Irons:
But yeah, it's been about 8 years.
Jeff Williams:
Cool. So, do you have any next projects that you're thinking about doing, like digitally?
Percy Irons:
Not really at the moment, but since I was thinking about getting back into painting. I did do a digital painting the other day because it had been so long since I had done one. It had been maybe four or five years since I last did one. So I did one yesterday actually, but yeah, I want to paint.
Jeff Williams:
Do you do that right now kind of like professionally or looking to do that more like?
Percy Irons:
I don't do it professionally, but I do commissions every once in a while for a lot of like character design work.
Jeff Williams:
Right on. That's cool. That's cool, how long have you been working at the library?
Leslie Irons:
I'm coming up on three years.
Jeff Williams:
Three years, right on. Right on. That's cool. We had some people from the Lincoln Library here in Springfield come in and talk about, you know, just some of the things, kind of not overlook the library to, you know, be able to come in. It's a great resource that everybody from a community can use. and it's, we usually have different programs. Do you have any, this might, top of your head you might not know, but any events or programs that the library's kind of putting on over there?
Leslie Irons:
I'm not the programming director, but she does plan a lot of events. But we do most of our work right now is leading towards summer read.
Jeff Williams:
Summer read, okay. So right after school kind of gets out for right on. That's cool.
Leslie Irons:
So it's plant a seed read. So we're kind of going around farming and
Jeff Williams:
Right on. That's cool. Yeah, that'll be cool. Definitely. So if people wanted to get a hold or contact the library over there, like a website, social media.
Leslie Irons:
Yeah, we have a Facebook page. It's Moroa Public Library District. And we also have a website. I would have to. It's not a simple one. If they did a search for Moroa Public Library, yeah, then you'll get a link.
Jeff Williams:
And then, so Percy, do you have any social media? Like, if people can want to see your artwork, things you do?
Percy Irons:
I do. I've been working on it for years, but It is Pixel Phantom with an underscore under it, and it's pretty much everywhere. Tumblr, Tumblr, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter. I do not have a Facebook, but I have pretty much everywhere else that you'd find.
Jeff Williams:
Right on. And that's Pixel underscore Phantom?
Percy Irons:
Nope, just Pixel Phantom and then an underscore at the end.
Jeff Williams:
Oh, Pixel Phantom, then underscore. Okay, gotcha, gotcha. Well, once again. Leslie Irons, Percy Irons, thank you both very much for making the drive over through a dust storm, you know, coming over. So hopefully it settles down some on your way on your way back over to the to the Marova area because it was yeah the one that went through yesterday was I was like, this has got to be kidding me. But like I said, the cops came and they just blocked an area off. They were like, nope, you can't go that way. And some people were pointing. I think they were like, must have been saying, I live right there though. I got to go. And so the cops were like, okay, you can come through. But then the next car, they're like, no, you can't. Like if they were trying to travel far because it really was zero visibility. It was like, no. But the other direction there was, you could see. I mean, it was still dusty, but not And it was weird. It was just like a wall. I hadn't seen anything like that in Illinois before. I heard last summer, like a kind of a bad accident, I guess, happened around Interstate 55. Yeah.
Leslie Irons:
I think it was 70 cars.
Jeff Williams:
It was crazy. Yeah, that's crazy. And I'd never Until yesterday, I'd never seen a dust storm in Illinois before.
Leslie Irons:
Well, when we first got here, I opened up my Facebook, and we were supposed to have a big track meet in Morrow for our school, and I said it was canceled because of a dust storm. I'm like, Oh, wow, never seen that before, but okay.
Jeff Williams:
It's pretty wild, because, like, the only time I'd seen one before was when we were driving through Colorado, you know, and all of a sudden it's like, Look, is that a Is that like a forest pipe? because it was just like this brown, it looks like smoke. And it was like this wall. And I was like, the other cars are still driving. like nobody is pulling over or turning around and the cars coming towards us. It wasn't like they were like, yeah. And they're like, oh yeah, it was just a dust storm. They were pretty, I mean, they were pretty used to it, but I was like, I hadn't, you know, around here, we usually don't see them very much. So, yes. Midwest. All right, well, thank you, Leslie. Thank you, Percy, both for coming in. Community Voices is events that you might have missed and conversations with neighbors, artists, and area businesspeople. Suggest a guest or comment at communityvoices@nprillinois.org Get to know your neighbors with community voices at noon and 10 p.m. and on demand at nprillinois.org NPR Illinois 91.9 and thank you for your support, Community Voices is a production of NPR Illinois.