Village life in Malta highlighted in a vibrant new mural by Dixon artist – Shaw Local
MALTA – A mural by Dixon artist Nora Balayti recently debuted on the side of a Lincoln Highway building owned by Bob Kyler Excavation, offering a vibrant look at life in the village of Malta.
Bob Kyler, who opened his mining company in 1965, died three years ago, but his wife Shirley Kyler, a lifelong resident of Malta, was there to see the mural installed in the Route 38 building.
“Oh I think it’s beautiful, I think we have such good people in Malta – I’ve been here all my life. The committee just did a great job,” said Shirley Kyler at the October 19 mural unveiling.
The Malta Seedling Project Committee, a voluntary economic development group made up of local citizens and business partners, helped facilitate the mural project. The committee works regularly with the Village Board to strengthen the community, welcome new businesses and support the needs of the community.
Balayti, a 39-year-old Dixon resident and Northern Illinois University alumna who has painted hundreds of murals was selected for the project. Balayti said she doesn’t normally do submission work but decided to send an application after a committee member reached out to her, encouraging her to put her name up for consideration.
“I took a shot at it, since I grew up in a similar area, I mean the same area really,” Balayti said. “I kind of got where they were coming from as far as what kind of values they were trying to show and images. So I definitely got where they were coming from so I knew I had a good shot.”
The committee began the planning process for the mural in late 2019 and the first item on the committee’s paper was finding a suitable place to display it. Brenda Jergens, a resident of Malta, aged 60, who chairs the Malta Seedling Project Committee, and is a village trustee, said that Bob Kyler offered the building – with its large wall overlooking to the south towards the village – for the initiative.
“He always wanted to do something on the front of the building,” Jergens said.
Jergens’ counterpart, 57-year-old Jacque Fucilla, who is also part of the Malta Seedling Project, said she reached out to the Kylers about using the building for the mural three years ago.
“I thought that their building right here on the main drag through Malta would be a great canvas for this work of art so it’s kind of one of the first things we did,” said Fucilla. “Because there is no point in going through the work of planning a mural if you don’t have a place to put it.”
With the artwork location secured, the committee sent out requests to area artists, seeking their submissions for the mural.
Balayti said she was told the committee liked her design but asked for a few tweaks, which was something she was happy to do.
“And we tweaked it and I’m glad we did it because it developed because of people coming together,” said Balayti. “It kind of shows that one artist can do anything but things are naturally better when you have other people.”
The committee received two grants from the Community Foundation of DeKalb County, although donations are still being sought to help fund the project – which ended up costing more than $10,000 – in full.
Despite the cost, Village President Bob Iverson said the mural is a “great project that needs to be done” and he’s happy to see it finished. He also credited Fucilla with making it happen.
“Like I said this was Jacque’s [Fucilla] baby and I’m so proud and happy to see it finally come to fruition,” said Iverson, 47 years old.
Looking at the mural, just before a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on her property, Shirley Kyler said her late husband would have been “thrilled to see” the artwork displayed on the -their property.
“He’s been gone three years now but he was happy to see this today,” Shirley Kyler said.