The Pioneer Spirit

The Pioneer Spirit is featured within the Moulton Museum. It was created by Luis Barajas Ochoa, LCAD 2022 graduate with honors.  Luis designed each section based on Nellie Gail Moulton’s extraordinary life. He created this vision from personal conversations with Jared Mathis about his great-grandmother. Moulton Museum hopes to inspire visitors to with The Pioneer Spirit to live amazing lives based on our matriarch incredible accomplishments.

This mural is an app enabled experience with our partnership with Tim Pryor, LCAD Department Chair Game Design.

Artist Statement:

I have always loved colors my whole life, and my opportunity to finally express my passion and love for colors using acrylic paint came when I painted The Pioneer Spirit mural. I was very excited to paint this mural of Nellie Gail Moulton to illustrate her life not only as a woman but also as a pioneer, artist, and incredible person that gave back to her community. These are all values I live by and why I love painting murals. This mural is unique because no one has ever painted such a complex of narratives all in one mural of Nellie Gail. The imaginative, creative visual that I was able to see and paint is something that will live with me forever. It’s a dream come true! While painting this mural, I learned many new things about Nellie Gail and the Moultons. I am very passionate about painting murals so the audience can absorb what’s in front of them and take a bit of my artistic creativity with them. In return, I want the audience to learn something new from what they saw in this mural. Every day is a new creation day to learn and do something new.

Website: https://luisbarajaso.com

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/barajasoart

Luis also created the 1874: Into the West and Welcome to Moulton Museum murals on our building.