New postcard mural in Crowville highlights Franklin Parish farming, faith, values

People driving through Franklin Parish now have a reason to slow down and take a new look at the town of Crowville.

Northeast Louisiana artist Brooke Foy has painted large mural there, similar to ones she has done in Monroe and West Monroe.

"It's a classic postcard mural," Foy said. "You write the town's name, and each letter becomes sort of a narrative. Each letter speaks to who they are as a community."

In this work, the most popular agricultural products from the area, corn, rice, soybeans and cotton, are represented in four of the nine letters, and the others depict fishing, a church, wildflowers, a quilt and an American flag.

"You want people to see it, and notice it and be like, 'Oh, that's cool,' but you also want to create a sense of pride in your community," Foy said. "I think that might be a little more important to the town of Crowville. What we've noticed is that it kind of brought the community together. Everyone is talking about it, everyone is excited about it, everyone is proud, so you get a really good sense of community."

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Foy is well known in northeast Louisiana, even by people who may not know her name. She did the "Mile of Love" children’s paintings along the West Monroe river wall, the Coca-Cola mural restorations in the Twin Cities and postcard murals in both Monroe and West Monroe. She also did the restoration of the giant flower statues in downtown West Monroe and was the director of the Herons on the Bayou project. She worked with the Black Creatives Circle on a Black Lives Matter traveling installation. Most recently, she did the statue of Shirley the elephant at the Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo.

After applying for, and receiving, a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Foy went to work on the design for what would be a postcard mural.

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The mural, which measures 52 feet long by 11 feet high, was painted by Foy with the help of four other artists, on the side of the township's volunteer fire station in the center of town.

Foy, along with artists Daija Essien, Keagan Vaughan, Emery Thibodeaux and Inique Harris, completed the painting in just nine days. It will be dedicated with a ceremony on July 12.

"Little communities like this often look for things that will put them on the map, if you will," Foy said. "People drive by here all the time, and sometimes don't know where they're at, so having a beacon, something like a postcard mural, can maybe make people stay a little longer in their communities, spend some money and all that good stuff."