In the restaurant business, finding the key ingredient can be the key to success.
And no, we’re not talking the food. We’re talking about dining room aesthetics.
So when a Bend restauranteur with decades of experience in the industry needed a mural painted on a new steakhouse, he found 17-year-old Holiday “Day” Banes, an artist who is just starting her career.
“When you have wall space you need to think about what you’re going to do with it to contribute to the overall feeling of the concept,” said owner Steve Weber. “I saw that big arched space and I said that’s a big giant Texas longhorn up there.”
“Always loved emerging artists and I’ve collected a lot of student art,” said Steve, who has decades of experience in the restaurant business.
And he set out to recruit the young muralist.
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“I’m working on something that’s like seven times-ish my size,” said Day. “He told me it was going to be an entrance way to a kitchen”
“I think she imagined it was going to be a tenth of this size,” said Steve.
In mid-September, the longhorns took shape.
“This is so on the fly, but I took a piece of cardboard from the construction that they hand to make like solid size guide,” said Day.
She’s worked to add little highlights and distinct features. And now with the deadline weeks away, she sees light at the end of the tunnel.
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“It’s kinda like a therapy in a way, it’s a good way to get out a lot of emotions in a peaceful way. I guess I’ve kind of done it for, forever you know,” said Day.
And she hopes this is a big step to a long and lasting career.
You can see Day’s mural at the Black Steer Steakhouse and Saloon when it opens later this fall in Bend’s Cascade Village Shopping Center.
