​Richard enjoyed reminiscing about Prairie Boy, whose legacy includes newspaper photos with a small television on a lawn chair placed in front of him, or a coat draped over his shoulders on a cool fall day. Richard explained that at one time, the Shawnee Mission East Track Team ritually touched the top of Prairie Boy’s head for strength and endurance. Prairie Boy’s legacy continues as one of the sculptures in the Prairie Village Art Walk that begins June 11, 2021.

When you think of a construction site, images of cranes, debris and scaffolding usually come to mind. But the folks at First Washington Realty (FWR) had something else in mind when they began planning their Corinth Quarter shopping center redevelopment project at 83rd and Mission Rd. Why not create a mural that would both beautify the area and serve as a distraction from the forthcoming construction mess? 

To accomplish this goal, they began interviewing a number of artists, then selected Phil “Sike Style” Shafer, for the project. “His vision best aligned with our ethos and the neighborhood,” said Wright Sigmund, Senior Vice President and National Director of Leasing at FWR, whose company hired Shafer to transform the brick walls of the building near the construction project into colorful imagery for the Prairie Village neighborhood.  

“They wanted to create a colorful, eye-catching work,” says Shafer, “something that will distract from the renovated building and serve as a secret photo opportunity.”  What Shafer ended up creating did not disappoint.

The mural that he created, entitled “Connections at Corinth,” is a vibrant, geometrically-themed set of panels wrapping around the building bookended by Tide Cleaners on one side and Panera Bread on the other. Color was one of Shafer’s most important considerations for the piece. Orange was selected as a “shout-out to the Tide place” and blue as a complementary hue. These “surprising colors” –to use his words-- were intended to grab the attention of people picking up their lunch at Panera Bread or doing their laundry. Shafer also sought to capture the attention of children who frequent the nearby office building that houses Playabilities, a pediatric occupational, physical and speech therapy center, and Village Pediatrics. 

Geometric shapes were also chosen for the piece to effectively play off the architecture of the space. As Shafer describes it, “the work has an abstract, constructionist early Twentieth Century European feel to it, if you want to get all art school about it.” Shafer earned the ability to toss about such phrases by attending the Kansas City Art Institute, but his artistic interests pre-date that formal education. “I’ve been an artist since I was four years old,” he explains, when his parents first recognized and began nurturing his talents. Since then, Shafer has been a professional artist for 21 years, serving for 17 years as the graphic designer at the KU Medical Center before retiring from there in 2018. ​

“I’ve been interested in public art all my life,” says Shafer, who has won art commissions from numerous schools, governments, and commercial establishments. His work has been featured in campaigns with The Royals, The Kansas City Chiefs, and he was showcased as the featured artist for an Oakley activation at Super Bowl LV in Tampa. Shafer looks forward to new projects planned across Kansas for 2021. 

But Shafer is not abandoning the completed Corinth Quarter project. Rather, he now wants to hear how his mural has become an interactive photo space. “I’m hoping it has become an Instagrammer’s playground, a backdrop for whatever fun families want to have taking pictures, getting creative with their outfits, or producing dance videos.”

FWR also hopes visitors will engage with the artwork and encourages the community to use the mural as a photo background and tag Corinth Quarter on Instagram and Facebook @corinthquarter. 

In this way, Prairie Village residents will be able to continue enjoying the mural, while hopefully ignoring the construction site mess.

For more information about the artist, visit www.sikestyle.com. Follow @sikestyle on Instagram.

If you Instagram this fun new mural, tag @pvartscouncil and @sikestyle, too!!
Read more about public art in Prairie Village here.

The Fallen Soldier, also known as “The Heart of a Patriot,” is dedicated to the memory of Sergeant Ian Christian Anderson (January 8, 1985 - January 15, 2007) who was killed in action by a roadside bomb in Mosul, Iraq, while supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was twenty-two years old.

​Sergeant Anderson, who grew up in Prairie Village, was a member of the 2d Battalion, 7th U.S. Cavalry, an Army Unit headquartered at Fort Bliss, Texas. At the time of the fatal explosion, he was on his second tour of duty in the Middle East.

Anderson’s wife, Suzanne, also served in the same military unit. According to the Washington Post, before leaving for Iraq, the Andersons entrusted their 3-year-old daughter, Lilian, to Suzanne’s parents for their scheduled one-year deployment period.

Sergeant Anderson attended Shawnee Mission East High School before enlisting in the U.S. Army in 2003. He was a member of the Bethany Lutheran Church. During his leisure time, he enjoyed playing soccer, caring for wildlife, and being outdoors with his family. An accomplished ‘computer gamer,’ Anderson had planned to later pursue a career in computer technology.

The Fallen Soldier sculpture was designed by Baltimore artist Richard Rist, a U.S. Navy veteran, whose studio, The Large Art Company, specializes in creating public art for families that have lost loved ones during wartime. Standing approximately forty-five inches high and resting upon a flat concrete pad, the impressive sculpture, which is cast in high-quality bronze, features boots, a rifle, and a helmet arranged as a traditional ‘Battlefield Cross.’ A handsome bronze plaque, attached to this artwork, confirms that Sergeant Anderson was awarded both the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart medals for his heroism.

The Fallen Soldier was donated by Sergeant Anderson’s family and dedicated in 2015. Anderson’s wife Suzanne and daughter Lily attended the ceremony. Sergeant Anderson’s father John, mother Elaine, and sister Ellen, joined Suzanne’s parents Debbie and Terry Mason for the event commemorating Anderson’s service and recognizing other fallen soldiers from our community.

The Fallen Soldier is an excellent example of public art that enriches our knowledge of history and enhances our appreciation of the sacrifices made by fellow citizens to protect our freedom.