ORGINALLY COMPLETED in 2019, artist Steve Sawyer’s jockey silks mural is painted on the exterior brick wall of Cornerstone Pharmacy in downtown Versailles. (Photo by Cindy Sawyer)
Just in time for the Kentucky Derby, Versailles artist Steve Sawyer touched up his mural depicting the jockey silks and beautiful landscapes of Woodford County horse farms.
The jockey silks of a 14th farm – Safari North – were added to the mural, with the cost of Sawyer repainting faded areas of the mural also covered by Susan Naylor, the owner of Safari North, he told the Sun.
“I just thought it was incredibly kind of her to not only want to be a part of the mural, but to make sure that I had time to touch it up and refresh it in several places,” Sawyer said.
He said he should finish painting this week, and “I’ll make sure the scaffolding’s out of the way in time before Derby.”
Originally completed in 2019, Sawyer’s jockey silks mural is painted on the exterior brick wall of Cornerstone Pharmacy in downtown Versailles. Across Lexington Street are murals of Woodford Reserve Distillery and another of Equus Run, Prodigy, Castle Hill and Wildside wineries, also painted by Sawyer.
“A lot of people,” said Sawyer, “really feel incomplete unless they make a contribution to the community … and it’s important. And as an artist, (painting a mural on a building is) one of the best ways I can make a contribution.”
While Sawyer has no pending mural projects in downtown Versailles, he said he will do a mural on the exterior wall of his studio building. He wants to paint an image that honors the city and county, “but also something that shows off my work.
“… I just don’t yet know what I want to do.”
In 2022, Sawyer and Emily Downey, executive director of the Woodford County Tourist Commission, said Ken Kerkhoff, a former member of the local Tourist Commission, helped lead the effort to add murals in downtown Versailles that celebrate the county’s signature industries: Bourbon, Wine and Bloodlines.