Walmart-fully done: Missouri artist crafts mural for Jackson Walmart

If you were to take a trip to visit every mural Victoria Lane has designed, it would take you from her hometown of De Soto, Missouri, across the country and back.

She's created murals that now stand in the eastern Missouri towns of Desloge and Festus, as well as murals to the east, south and west. Her works are displayed in Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Arizona, Utah and no fewer than three cities in Georgia.

Her latest creation will call Jackson its home. As for finding it, Jackson residents won't have to look far. They'll see it every time they shop for groceries at Walmart.

"I actually have quite a few family members who live in Jackson. I've been to the area many times and I really like the area," Lane said. "It's been a while since I've had a commission so close to home, and one I can visit regularly."

Lane is a 2021 Lindenwood University graduate who returned to the school to teach student writing classes. She said she has always had a passion for traditional art, but digital art was something she had little experience with until the final hours of 2019.

Victoria Lane's murals are part of Walmart's Community Mural Project. Artists, usually locals, design art that represents a specific town where Walmart operates stores. Her mural at the Walmart in Jackson will be unveiled once renovations there are complete.Courtesy of Victoria Lane

Victoria Lane's murals are part of Walmart's Community Mural Project. Artists, usually locals, design art that represents a specific town where Walmart operates stores. Her mural at the Walmart in Jackson will be unveiled once renovations there are complete.Courtesy of Victoria Lane

She discovered Walmart was hosting a community mural program in collaboration with the Los Angeles-based NOW Art agency to design artwork for around 1,000 stores. Her friends and family encouraged her to submit a mural for the De Soto location.

Lane entered the contest at the last minute because she thought she'd be wasting an opportunity if she didn't join. Mistakenly believing the deadline was the end of the year, she managed to design and submit her mural in less than seven hours Dec. 31, 2019.

A few months later, Lane was informed her design had been selected for De Soto. In late 2021, Walmart representatives called about another opportunity, this time a commission from the Desloge Walmart. She submitted an application and was informed the next day she'd been chosen.

From there, she was accepted into the pool of artists nationwide that Walmart managers can call on to get murals painted.

"After Desloge, I started getting commissions for different murals across the country to kind of highlight the local community. (They featured) different landmarks, different principles and values of the community," she said.

Research is paramount when it comes to making memorable murals. Lane looks into local government websites, business websites and even maps to understand what a community looks like.

Lane said her art style is contemporary, modern and illustrative. If managers want that kind of style for their location, and no one locally can do it, she's often picked for the job. Managers often pick at least three features they want included in the design.

For Jackson, Lane needed to include the St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern Railway, high school football and Jackson City Park.

"It was hard to do the Jackson City Park one because there were so many interesting things in the park that I wanted to represent," she said.

She included all those items in her final design. She also added the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse and a fireworks display.

Lane received the commission at the end of September and had just a week to finish her design, but she's gotten much faster with her murals than she was two years ago.

"When I first did the Desloge one, I had a month, and I needed the month. Now I have a week and I get it done in a week," she said.

Lane uses the Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Fresco programs. The former is better at precise lines, while the latter is best for drawing organic shapes. NOW Art processes the printing onto adhesive vinyl. The final designs are installed shortly before renovated stores reopen.

"It typically takes a few weeks, if not a few months, but I imagine that by the end of the year it (the Jackson mural) will be up. Probably mid- to late November if I had to guess," she said.

Once it's up, Lane's family and friends who live in the area will be able to view it with the knowledge that someone they know created it. Lane said that makes the project feel a little more personal, but it's any artist's dream to have their work seen by so many people.

"I went to art school, technically, and I've always been an artsy person, but I never thought I'd be a professional artist," she said. "... It's been a wild ride that I absolutely love."