Written by Jana Botkin
When I was part of Exeter’s mural team, we used to discuss whether or not Mineral King was part of Exeter’s history. Two members of the team are part of the Mineral King community, and many times we argued in vain for Mineral King.
After I left the team, learned to paint, and then learned to paint murals, the team’s membership changed. So did the opinion that Mineral King was not part of Exeter’s history, and I was chosen to paint a huge Mineral King mural!
Many folks participated in transferring the image to the 110’ long wall.
The wall was intimidating, but I had help from many people over the 52 days of painting. A forklift with an operator, the loan of a truck, gifts of lunch, the loan of an umbrella, people helping to paint the undercoats, help moving the scaffolding when it got stuck in a pothole, even help with my flip-phone when it wasn’t working.
Jana Botkin is a lifelong resident of Tulare County, a farmer’s daughter from Ivanhoe, and wife to Michael Botkin for 33 years. Using pencils, oil paint, and murals, she makes art that people can understand, of places and things they love, at prices that won’t scare them, always wanting to provide visible reminders that Tulare County is a place to be proud of. She has been a full time artist since 1993, working from her Three Rivers home studio. She has published two books of local cabin communities, The Cabins of Mineral King (with Jane Coughran)and The Cabins of Wilsonia, five local coloring books, and Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names. Jana accepts commissions, teaches drawing lessons, and blogs about her artful life five days a week on her website, www.cabinart.net.