‘Shop Local’ mural planned in downtown Fayetteville

A mockup photo (top) shows what artist Jason Jones’ “Shop Local” mural will look like once painted on the south wall of the Four-Legged Bird in downtown Fayetteville.

Mural art: Jason Jones / Photo mockup: Todd Gill

We’re going to have to add a new stop to our walking tour of public art in downtown Fayetteville.

That’s because local artist Jason Jones is planning to paint a 50-foot-long “Shop Local” mural, complete with one of his signature robot illustrations, along Archibald Yell Boulevard this fall.

Jason Jones works to begin painting a mural on a utility box on the downtown square in 2013.

Todd Gill

Jones, who is a co-owner of local gift shop, Four-Legged Bird, launched a Kickstarter campaign to pay for permits, paint, and supplies for the mural on the south side of the shop earlier this month. With more than two weeks remaining, the project has already surpassed the $2,200 fundraising goal.

“We were surprised at how fast the project was funded,” Jones said. “We hit our goal within the first week.”

Jones said he was most excited to see the support for the project.

“Right from the beginning, there’s been several amazing people make large donations without rewards,” he said. “They just want to see the mural happen. The community definitely supports public art here in Fayetteville. As an artist, I feel lucky to be a part of it.”

Jones said he hopes the mural will provide exposure to the more than 50 artists that sell their work inside his shop, while also encouraging residents to shop at other local businesses in town.

For those who aren’t familiar, Jones has painted more than 100 murals in residences, businesses, and in public spaces around the region, including the insect murals on utility boxes around the Fayetteville square. He is also well known for his altered thrift store paintings, in which he adds sea monsters, unicorns, robots, giant insects, and other unexpected elements to found artwork to make it new and interesting again.

The city of Fayetteville has already approved the permits for the project, and Jones said he’ll begin painting sometime in the next week or so.

If more money is raised above the goal for the project between now and the Oct. 7 Kickstarter deadline, the artist said he’ll just add more amenities to the project.

“If we do get more money, first we would like to use it to replace the fascia boards that are above the mural,” he said. “Right now they are rotting out and home to several bird nests. The birds have left some nasty stains down the wall, and it would be nice to fix the problem before the mural gets stained.

“We also talked about using extra money to create a cool design with acid stains on the concrete at the entry of the shop, and possibly making an artistic four-legged bird bike rack for the front of the shop. We have lots of ideas for adding artistic touches to the place,” he said.

For more information about the project, or to contribute, check out the Kickstarter page.