Civil rights activist Guadalupe Villalobos Briseno painted in the mural.

Belen Ward

Han Geist uses small sketches of the mural to capture every detail.

Belen Ward

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The colorful mural going up on the southern wall of Brighton's Founders Plaza features fields of green crops, scenes from the city's history and some surprising faces.

"I came up with my own design and layout and presented it to the council. Once it was approved, there were some things that we wanted to tweak on of some images they felt were important to include for instance Guadalupe Villalobos Briseno," Louisianna Muralist Hans Geist said.

Geist was selected by Brighton's Art Committee to paint the mural in the square at 5th and Bridge Street, the finishing touch to the city's work on the plaza. He was one of 161 artists that responded to a national search.

The goal was to brighten a drab wall, but also to celebrate the names that have made the city special.

"When we first started constructing the Founders Plaza, we had the idea of putting a mural on this wall to recognize Founders Plaza and recognized the important people of the city of Brighton," said Gary Wartell of the City of Brighton Art Committee.

The city of Brighton and Geist are shooting for mid-September for the mural's completion, depending on the weather, and will have a dedication ceremony at the end of September.

Wartell said the committee decided to look nationally for an artist that represented their vision.

"Our committee of 16 reviewed examples of photos they sent us. We narrowed it down to six people, and Hans was one of them. We called the six people to interview, and Hans did the best job of presenting to us his vision of what our mural would be. We selected him," Wartell said.

Geist began painting when he was very young and has done murals professionally for about 30 years.

"I paint historical murals around mostly the Gulf Coast region. So when I saw the City Brighton was looking for a historical mural. I entered the call and got selected to do the mural," Geist said.

Geist said when planning a large mural, he sketches out his ideas. With the Founders mural, he started sketching the borders first, working from there, and bringing the elements together from the outside in.

He not only brought his skills to the project but his family member's skills as well.

"My daughter, Emma Geist, was here last week helping me and she's an amazing artist. She painted the flamenco dancer dress on the girl in the mural, and that was from a photo," Geist said. "She also painted some of the other areas on the bottom. But she had to fly back to Louisiana, unfortunately, she helped us get a good start."

Research

Geist said before he came up with this design, he did about a month's research on the area of Brighton and found many images and books with a lot of history, landmarks and the people that have made Brighton the place it is today.

"It was a work in progress, but we got it pretty much narrowed down to the essential things to include," Geist said.

That's where he discovered labor activist and National Floral Worker's founder Guadalupe Villalobos Briseno. Geist said they wanted to put her in the mural to recognize her legacy for what she did in the community.

According to History Colorado, Briseno was among the Mexican-American women working for the  Kitayama Corporation's floral processing plant in  Brighton, in July 1968.  The women, led by Briseno, decided to strike, citing distressful working conditions, long hours with no overtime and having to work in humid, muddy nurseries that caused accidents and impacted the women's health.

Briseno also created a National Floral Workers Organization and received national and local support and was guided by Cesar Chavez, according to History Colorado. 

Ray Kitayama, owner of the flower processing company, got wind of the pending strike and fired Brisano, but she continued with the strike.

It came to a head after eight months. The women made one last effort and chained themselves to the gate of the Kitayama plant. Kitayama called the Weld County police and the striking women were cut loose and sprayed with tear gas, according to History Colorado.

The strike ended after 221 days and the conditions improved for workers. The plant closed shortly after due to other internal issues. 

But Briseno was hailed as a leader, according to History Colorado, since she'd had no labor experience prior to organizing an eight-month labor strike. She became an inspiration for female activists.