- April 26, 2024
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Dakota’s daily routine was to wait by the front door till the car was all loaded up. Nina Mateyuna and her husband (assistant), Ed, loaded up the dog and all of the paint supplies needed to go to Palatka, where she would be painting a 58-foot-by-13-foot Annie Oakley historical mural on a building at 1023 St Johns Ave., in Palatka.
The mural commemorates Annie Oakley’s sharpshooting and riding performances along the 100 block of Palatka in 1908.
Oakley’s sharpshooting and local rodeo events are depicted in the mural along with scenes from the historical riverfront in the same area.
Their dog, Dakota, was in love with the entire idea.
It meant lots of new people to meet each time they worked on the mural, a project that required 26 trips back and forth between their Palm Coast home and Palatka, with four to five hours of work each trip.
Commissioned by Palatka’s Conlee-Snyder Mural Committee, Nina and Ed Mateyuna began their labor of love this past October. It was completed in November.
When artist and friend Doreen Hardie had an art opening at the Larimer, in Palatka, she introduced Nina Mateyuna to Mural Committee Chairperson John Alexander, who liked her portrait work and asked if she would submit a concept for the Annie Oakley Historical Mural.
The committee liked Mateyuna’s composition and commissioned her to do the project.
Her mural was dedicated Dec. 1, by Mayor Vernon Myers, Mural Committee members John Alexander, Clint Snyder, Judy Rothchild and Sam Deputy, before about 70 people.
Mateyuna’s interest in art began at about 5 years old, with faces having stick-like bodies.
While she never made art her profession, it has provided an income to go along with part-time jobs throughout her adult lift.
Her favorite subjects are portraits, people in different settings and animals. A great deal of Mateyuna’s work depicts Biblical stories or scriptural passages, bringing to life what we can normally only imagine in our minds. Of her Biblical paintings and God, she said: “God is the all-time greatest artist ever to wield a brush, and His creation continues to inspire me. There is none like Him, and for as long as I live, I’ll never cease to be amazed at His drop-dead gorgeous sunsets, and the take-your-breath-away beauty of a waterfall or field of flowers.”
As well as in her home studio, Mateyuna’s work can be seen at Calvary Chapel Flagler Beach, the Welcome Center in Palatka and the Java Joint restaurant in Flagler Beach.
This is Mateyuna’s second mural, the other being in New York.
When asked if, besides her commissioned portraits and other artworks, she would like to do more murals, she simply replied: “We would indeed.”
That likely means that Ed and their mutt, Dakota, will be along to handle the easy stuff.
It also means Dakota can meet more friends.
