Hanford Insider

Hanford Insider: Muralist Jennifer Butts

• Rob Bentley • Season 3 • Episode 17

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A blank wall can change a neighborhood when the right story lands on it. We sit down with muralist and educator Jennifer Butts to trace her journey from a seven-year-old with a sketchbook to a globe-trotting teacher in Honduras and China, and finally to the vibrant work now lighting up downtown Hanford. Jennifer opens her toolbox and her process: how a mural starts with listening, turns into sketches on paper or Procreate, navigates city approvals, and finally becomes a durable landmark with smart sealing, UV protection, and modern graffiti cleanup.

We dig into the why behind her bright palette—color as a public service, a mood lift you can see from half a block away—and the practical realities of painting in Central Valley heat. Jennifer shares favorite projects, from an Italian-inspired backyard transformation in Sacramento to local pieces with hidden Easter eggs, like a jet bearing a Navy squadron logo. The conversation zooms out to policy and place-making: how murals drive foot traffic, encourage browsing, and build civic pride, and why opening more of Hanford to public art could spark the kind of cultural and economic momentum seen in mural towns like Exeter.

We also keep you plugged into what’s happening now: the Amtrak Goldrunner rebrand connecting visitors to Winter Wonderland, Mayor Travis Paden’s tree lighting, a stacked community calendar of theater, museum exhibits, and holiday light maps, plus a sports roundup celebrating youth football champions and early-season hoops storylines. It’s a portrait of a city with energy to spare—and walls ready for the next story. If you enjoyed the episode, follow Hanford Insider, subscribe on your favorite app, leave a review to help others find the show, and share it with a friend who loves local art and community.

You can find the Hanford Insider at www.hanfordinsider.com and on social media at @hanfordinsider
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SPEAKER_02:

On this episode of The Hanford Insider, get an inside look at the downtown murals with the artist Jennifer Butts. Rob will give you a quick review of the community calendar, and later I'll be back with your sports report. This is the Hanford Insider for Monday, November 24th.

SPEAKER_03:

Welcome to the Hanford Insider Podcast, where we bring you closer to the stories, people, and events that make our community one of a kind. I'm your host, Rob Bentley, and each week we dive into the heart of Hanford, from hometown history to the voices shaping our city today. Whether you're a lifelong resident or discovering Hanford for the first time, this is your front row seat to see what's happening right here at home. In community news this week, the Hanford City Council met last Tuesday, so be sure to check out Mayor Payton's Wednesday wrap-up that has been posted at HanfordInsider.com to get the latest news. You might have noticed that Amtrak has rebranded the San Joaquin route that runs through central California to the new name Gold Runner, shining a new light on the statewide train and bus service. The Goldrunner provides riders the opportunity to travel California end to end, from Yosemite to the coast, and other landmarks in between. Amtrak is also a partner with Hanford Winter Wonderland and will have specials bringing visitors to town to enjoy this annual tradition. Amtrak has been a popular way to visit Hanford for years. I know that at the Carnegie Museum we see lots of visitors who rode the train to town for the Renaissance Festival, Moon Festival, special concerts, or maybe just a Superior Dairy Ice Cream. We're pretty fortunate to be connected with so much of the world by their tracks running through town. Winter Wonderland opened on Saturday, and Mayor Travis Payton lit the Christmas tree in a ceremony atop a Hanford firetruck. Here's what he had to say following the ceremony.

SPEAKER_01:

I just want to thank everybody in the community for coming out to last night's Christmas tree lighting and the opening of Winter Wonderland in beautiful downtown Hanford. It was a great event, and I hope you join us this season for ice skating, fantastic food, and a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_03:

This week I held a special contest for Winter Wonderland and Hanford Christmas Parade. I asked listeners to share this last week's episode on their own social media to help get the word out. With over 100 entries, I'm proud to announce that Haley Moreno has been selected as the lucky winner of the grand prize. It includes four Winter Wonderland skating passes, four reserved VIP bleach receipts to the parade, and a superior dairy gift card. Congratulations, Haley. Give me an email at HanfordInsider at gmail.com to coordinate the delivery of your prize, and I'll reach out to you as well. This Thanksgiving, I'd like to take a moment to thank all of my listeners, subscribers, financial contributors, and especially my guests. It's hard to believe that I started this hobby nearly five years ago, and it's so gratifying to see what it has become. If you're at the Hanford Christmas Parade on Friday, be sure to come to my announcing stand at the intersection of 7th Street and Erman Street, and I'd like to thank you in person. Now let's take a look at this week's community calendar. The King's Players are presenting Murder by the Book at the Temple Theater in Hanford each weekend in November. Visit Kingsplayers.org to get more information and to purchase tickets. Main Street Hanford is hosting several events over the next few weeks, including the annual downtown Hanford Christmas Tree Walk and the wine and chocolate tasting event on December 5th. Visit Main StreetHanford.com for all of the details. During the wine and chocolate event, the Griswold Basal Community Foundation will be unveiling their annual Christmas window display at 6 30 p.m. on the southeast corner of Dowdy Street and 7th Street. You'll hear more about the display on next week's show. The Carnegie Museum of Kings County's exhibition, a history of Kings County Agriculture, is open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. through December 14th. The Hanford Fox Theater will be showing the movie Trolls on Saturday, November 29th at 2 p.m. Finally, there are two Christmas light pages that are gearing up for the festive season. Hanford Holiday on Facebook provides a list of decorated homes as well as a map. Kings County Let It Glow is a countywide contest where the best homes go for a prize. You can visit their website at KingscountyLetITGLOW.com. If you have an event coming up and you'd like some help getting the word out, let's work together. Send your information to HanfordInsider at gmail.com. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a complete calendar of events. It's the most comprehensive community calendar available. Well, many of you have seen the outstanding murals in downtown Hanford at the King's Art Center, uh, and also in downtown Hanford at the corner of 6th and Irwin Street. And I'm very proud to have on the show today Jennifer Butts, who is the artist and muralist who painted those murals. Welcome to the show, Jennifer.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_03:

So, Jennifer, let's start at the beginning. Uh, when did art first become a big part of your life?

SPEAKER_00:

When I was little, I spent time with my uncle. My brother and I spent time with my uncle, and he was in the middle of getting an art degree. So we got to see all his projects. And that early age of seven is when I started really getting interested in art. And I took every single art class available, took art center classes that were in my town. I'm from Arkansas, so Little Rock, Arkansas. So the art center there was a big part of my brother and my young life growing up. And then in all through school, in college, I took I had a degree in art education. So I took art all the way through from age seven till, you know, college. And I spend a lot of time always still doing art.

SPEAKER_03:

Of course. That's what artists do, right? Yeah. So was there a particular person or place or experience that you realized art was your calling?

SPEAKER_00:

Um, I think just from uh that same young age, I just had a l a love for it. I spent all my time drawing and sketching and had a ton of art supplies that I never had a chance to to use enough of. But I just I spent a ton of time just doing it. When I was in college, I uh was actually studying special education and um and I was finding that I spent all night long for a lot of nights doing art. And I'm like, I just need to shift over to I needed at that point in college, I wanted to be able to travel internationally as a teacher. And so I didn't need specifically a a specific type of art or a specific type of education degree to travel as a teacher. I just needed a teaching license to travel and be able to do stuff internationally. So I switched over to art education, finished up with straight A's at that point, which I was not getting earlier. And then I hit the road and started traveling internationally as a teacher from there on.

SPEAKER_03:

So let's talk about that for a minute. I understand you were in Central America for 18 years. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I was um worked with a ministry of like kind of street kids, abandoned kids, kids that had a bunch of different background issues. And uh I met my husband who's from Hanford there, and that's how he and I met back when I was 30.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, that's great.

SPEAKER_00:

And then um I t I taught probably 12 years in Honduras as an English teacher. Well, as an elementary teacher, so I taught English, bilingual, Spanish, whatever, and not necessarily art, but art was interwoven in all the stuff. Yeah, we had a ministry with a bunch of kids, and I was able to teach there and and just enjoy my art with them. So art was all always in that. Um and then we ended up moving back here. When I first got my teaching degree, I I lived in China and taught college English for seven months there. I also traveled down in Mexico and South America and Central America, different places, and did little teaching projects, but basically as I was traveling just for fun. And then yeah, then I was able to come here and teach. I taught 15 years total. So elementary kind of general education and then art up to high school. And then I moved here and decided I wanted to do something different after 15 years of teaching, and murals are kind of making a comeback. So I thought, well, I'm gonna go for it and try it and see how it works.

SPEAKER_03:

So you mentioned murals, and that's why we're here. You know, everybody is so happy about these murals that are going up, and you're right, they are making a comeback. You've been involved in mural projects in several different uh communities over the last few years. When did you first paint a mural and what was that experience like?

SPEAKER_00:

I painted a mural in my patio in Honduras for the weekend while my husband and son were at a father-son retreat. So I was able to just piddle and I wanted to do a like an Italian uh beach ocean scene and make our little patio area really comfortable and welcoming. And it was super easy. It was no big deal, and I thought, oh, I can totally do this. Large scale was easy, as easy as working on a small canvas. So that was my first mural. Then I did a mural for a friend of mine who had a school for the deaf in Tego Sigalpa Honduras. I did a that was a uh my biggest piece of artwork at that point, and it was bringing in local scenery and local settings onto the wall so that the children could enjoy just looking visually and and enjoying all the art of their area in a little world of of no hearing. So I wanted to make it visually very rich for them.

SPEAKER_03:

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

So those are my two Honduras murals. And then I came here and did bounced all over doing murals. So I've done almost 60 at this point.

SPEAKER_03:

60. That's great. You know, we think of the two recent ones in Hanford, but if we follow you on social media, which we'll talk about in just a moment, we can see examples of your project there and on your website. So let's uh walk through the typical process from concept of a mural to completion.

SPEAKER_00:

So sometimes I'll ask around if people want murals, but once people know about me, they'll just come to me or they'll see, like you said on social media, uh different images that I already do. They'll see if they like a certain style, and then they'll come and offer um the opportunity to start the conversation. So once we start a conversation on murals, then it's we look at theme, a specific wall, like the size, and we just kind of bounce ideas around. They'll show me images, I'll show them images, and once we kind of latch onto a theme and an image style, then we'll I'll start sketching. So I'll sketch either traditionally on just paper with pen, crayon, or color pencils, whatever, watercolor, whatever. And then or I can do it uh through digital art.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, you use Procreate, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, I use Procreate. I love it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that's a great program.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, for sure. For sure.

SPEAKER_03:

How do you decide on color palettes and design elements for a specific wall or neighborhood?

SPEAKER_00:

Right. I tend to choose bright colors no matter what I'm gonna do because I I feel like they bring joy to people when they see them. Not everybody likes the bright colors, but that's okay. They don't have to embrace every style and every color arrangement.

SPEAKER_03:

How long does an average mural take and what kind of preparation goes into before the first brush stroke hits the wall?

SPEAKER_00:

That's a great question. I actually get that a bunch. It starts with the conversation. It's and then once the images are designed, which that actually takes me about four or five times longer than the actual mural, is getting the design just right and approved. Um then we do city approval and then uh we'll find the building, an owner who wants to do it, the funding that's gonna happen, get the city approval, and then actually the artwork on the wall, it's goes pretty quick. So, like the downtown, of course, it depends on size, texture, details of the artwork, but downtown on Sixth Avenue or Sixth Street, that one took um three weeks of four to six hours a day, Monday through Friday.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, and you had a lot of heat to contend with, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and I was watching what you always have to watch the weather and the heat. And as I get older, I'm not super hip on the heat. So I tried to make uh tried to pick a time when it looked like the weather was gonna be nice enough to be comfortable. And then I create a shade over me, which is nice. I learned that trick from that tip from uh Colleen Vayner, who's done a ton of murals all in this area, and her artwork is always beautiful. And she sat with me when I first started and she gave me an hour worth of tips at a coffee shop, and I took took down all the notes that she and I talked about, and she gave she was a world of wisdom in this. So I just try to plan out weather and make sure the walls basically prepped for me and washed down for me, and then I just go for it and try. My goal is usually for um for the size walls I typically do. My goal is a week to two weeks. This one took a little longer because I just couldn't do late afternoon heat every single day. So, but one to two weeks is my hope. This one took three with shorter days.

SPEAKER_03:

So as a muralist, uh what emotions do you hope to spark in people when they encounter your work?

SPEAKER_00:

I hope that people see it and are brightened and encouraged, especially as we have so much um discouragement, I feel like, around with social media and whatever people, politics, all that stuff. Um so I want to bring joy into people's lives. I want them to look up, see uh reflection of maybe something they en something they like, especially the Hantford, the m the downtown Hantford one. I wanted to really bring some cool aspects of of uh our n our pride that we have in in this town. And I wanted to really encourage people just to enjoy what they've already got here. You know, lots of bright colors, fun things that might spark some fun memories for them.

SPEAKER_03:

So before we leave the topic of the downtown mural, I thought people have questions about the types of uh graffiti abatement that's there and uh kinds of paint. How is that handled when you paint?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I have several different types of uh clear sealers that I will use. So I use mainly three different types of sealers according to the texture of the wall. So that protects from the the powerful sun damage that can happen. It can totally bleach out colors. So I do a sealer first, it's a nice thick coat of basically a clear plastic, and then I will do a graffiti abatement, a graffiti seal over it that's a little bit of like an oily coating that just makes the paint, any graffiti, easy to remove, which is really nice. So and I I stress as I'm painting and going home each night, I stress about please don't let any graffiti happen until I get the nice clear seal. Once the seal's on, I'm I can breathe and not worry too much about it. And then the graffiti is just an added protection. And now there are so many cleaners that can that I don't even need the graffiti abatement. The simple seal of clear coat is good enough with the newer or the the the cleaners that you can grab. I can literally spray on like a Windex type. It's not really Windex, but it's a spray of cleaner like that. You just spray it on, scrub it, and power wash it off, which is really nice. So that meant and if if I've got that clear coating that I'm protecting the colors of the mural with that clear coating, and so you can still spray without the graffiti, the graffiti cle coating. So with or without the graffiti coating, since I've sealed it, it's protected already from graffiti. I can still spray directly on the seal that I've put on there and it'll come right off, which is really nice. So but typically, typically, graffiti artists will respect other people's art and they won't mess with the mural as much. I've never had so far any graffiti on all of my murals, which is really nice. So I'm I'm thankful that they will those guys will typically respect the art and just go find another surface.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that's interesting about the respect that you mentioned. You said that murals are becoming quite popular in the area and in the Central Valley. And I know you've been involved in projects in other areas of the valley. Uh, can you highlight a few of those projects?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, one of my favorites was in Sacramento in a backyard of a neighborhood downtown. And it's still one of my favorites. A friend of mine was a contractor. He came up and said, I've got two ugly garage walls of neighbors that lined that they those walls were the back corner of that yard that he was rebuilding, remodeling. And he was like, What can you do on those two walls that were directly on the property lines and unpainted for who knows how many years? So both walls looked horrible. And he said, I can you do an Italian vineyard, an Italian, um like a chalet kind of look. So the left wall that was in the very back of the yard became a really cool like a red brick, almost looking or red, reddish stucco chalet. And the right side was a a grape vineyard. And so now when you walk in that house and you look out the back, you see an Italian type scene all across the back with a water fountain and a little fire pit and different stuff. It enhanced the whole environment of the backyard and the house. So it it improved the value, I think, just by having a pretty scene instead of two ugly walls with stucco peeling off and whatever. So that was a that was a Sacramento backyard. Another one was a family that had a shed in their backyard in Sacramento, and they were Dutch and they wanted to have a scene from Holland painted on that shed. So they had two homes that they were renting out, and that shed is in the middle. So it's an attract, I think two homes, and that that was just added an attractive item, an attractive visual ambiance to the backyard, which was nice.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, how about locally? I know uh you had the Kalinga project I saw. What else?

SPEAKER_00:

Yep. Children's story book garden is where I kind of started here, and I have probably five or six different murals there. I actually had two of the murals I had, um, a group that needed a a surf project in the area. And so I took them over and there was about 20 people. I sketched it all out. I started the painting on two different murals to get them ready to come in and be not super scared of the learning process. And then I taught them how to do the finished, the finishing touches of the mural, and they started working. I had 20 people all around with paintbrushes in their hands from it. Yes, yeah, from kids to local lawyers. So it was really a whole fun array of people, and they just tackled it and and then I came up and touched up and and did a final seal on it to protect it. So that was fun. Um, I've also done several other things at the Hanford Art Center, the King's Art Center. I've done several things in the Navy in L'Amour. One of the squadrons invited me over and I did like six murals for them of their logo and different things. And then I put their their squadron logo on this Hanford mural. The jet has their logo of the fist of the fleet.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, Easter egg on your mural.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. And so one of the guys I asked if he would give me a photo of their current jets that they're flying, and that becomes a uh almost a timestamp on the mural that 2025 is the exact jet that they're flying right now, at least for that squadron.

SPEAKER_03:

So a fun little nice little Easter eggs on your yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00:

That's great. So that's fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

I wanted to ask you, uh I know that when the mural ordinance came up for the city of Hanford, it, you know, people were uh concerned about lots of things, you know, from graffiti all the way to um appropriateness of certain murals. And the city council decided to limit murals to the downtown area. And I know that you got up and spoke to that. And I'd like to ask you, what are the benefits of adding murals and artwork to other areas of the town other than just downtown?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, it it was open to the whole city before. And then last, like in February of 24, it narrowed they narrowed it down to just downtown. And I'm not sure why, because we don't have a lot of murals anyway. No. So they narrowed it down to just downtown, which is cool to beautify that area is gonna be really nice to do. But I was asking them to open it back up. Their concerns were there were gonna be too many murals or or different styles that they weren't interested in. But in reality, we don't have a lot anyway, even when it was opened up. So benefits of having murals in the area or or art in general in any area tends to bring local pride to um to their community. It tends to boost business, it boosts earnings for the companies because it encourages more people to browse. Like we think of Exeter, who's got that's got so many murals, and little tiny Exeter who knows how much financially it's benefited them because people go down just to see the murals and just to browse. And so that's what I picture. That's what I think of. But it helps kind of revive a town, I think. It brings new people in, it brings new money, it br it encourages people to get out and about and enjoy their city.

SPEAKER_03:

So do you have any future projects that are in the works for the area? I know some of it's still in the planning stages, obviously, but uh are you working with uh some local groups maybe to get some new installations?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, um, I've got three different schools that would like a mural, but Hantford, I can't do any exterior murals at this point for even the schools. So that's always a bummer. But um I've got three schools kind of starting the conversation about murals in our area, which is gonna be fun. It they just they'll have to be like interior hallways or they'll have to be like inside in their in their campus. They can be facing out, but not on a predominant street. Yeah. So like out in their their sports area or whatever. Um, and then I'm finishing up a children's book illustration, illustrating a children's book. So that's gotta be my main focus to to tackle and complete before I take on other murals right now. I keep it's easy to push that off, and it's just never getting finished. So my poor friend who's patiently waiting for me to finish, that one has to get done next. And so then the three schools, and that's all I have right now that I can think of. But there's always, um, I've been busy enough to not really have to push and run around and and try to get people interested. Um, I'd love to get another one downtown with Michelle Brown. She's helping she and I'll start the conversation again about kind of where's another building, what's a new theme, what do we want to have on there? What do we want to just, you know, display? What message do we want to ha to get across? Um, so I'm hoping that'll that'll still happen soon. That'll be Michelle was great to work with.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm hoping too.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

So for looking for inspiration, people can go to your website, and that is jenniferlovesart.com, where she has a gallery of projects that she's done, and kind of you can read a little bit more about her and what inspires her. Uh, you're also very active on social media, yeah?

SPEAKER_00:

Mm-hmm. I try to be on Instagram, especially, but I've got a Facebook page of Jennifer Butts Art and Painting, because I can't get Facebook to change the business name. But it's usually Jennifer Butts Art or Murals and Art, Jennifer Butts Murals and Art.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, that's wonderful. Jennifer, thank you so much for joining us. Uh, I've been waiting for this interview for a long time, and people have been very excited about your artwork in town. And uh, there's a certain buzz about this new movement towards putting murals in downtown Hanford and throughout the community, actually, throughout Kings County. So thank you so much for joining us today.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you so much for having me. And now it's time for Hanford Insider Sports with Eric Bentley.

SPEAKER_02:

We start with Hanford United Youth Football. Congratulations to the seniors on winning the Sequoia League Youth Football Championship, taking down Delano 36-0. While the juniors lost a heartbreaker in the championship to Dainuba 22-15. Congratulations to both teams for making it to the championships and the seniors on the win. Always enjoy getting those youth updates. Now on to high school sports, where Sierra Pacific Girls Water Polo fell to Garcis in round one of the state playoffs. The Golden Bears cap off a successful season with a 25-10 overall record and a Division III section title, with plenty to look forward to next year with many key returners. It's winter, so basketball got underway last week. We'll start with the boys where Sierra Pacific is off to a 3-0 start, with dominating victories over Corcoran and Parlier, and a nine-point win over Strathmore. A really good start for the Golden Bears with some tough holiday tournaments on the schedule. The Hanford West Boys were able to pick up their first win of the year in Game 1, taking down El Diamante in overtime 67 to 59 on Wednesday before falling to Granite Hills on Friday to start the year 1-1. And the Hanford High Boys fell to Bullard and South High from Bakersfield to start their year 0-2. And in girls' basketball, Hanford West was the only team to pick up a win in the first week of action as they defeated Kennedy 52-41. As always, we like to cover as many sports as we can, but we can only do so much without you. Any sport, any team, any level, if you have a score report, a story idea, or a team update, please let us know at HanfordInsider at gmail.com. I'm Eric Bentley, and this has been your Hanford Insider Sports Report.

SPEAKER_03:

That's all the time we have for this week's show. If you enjoyed this podcast and you'd like to show your support, you can go to buymeacoffee.com forward slash Hanford Insider to make the donation. If you'd like to join the Hanford Insider email list, stop by my website at HanfordInsider.com to sign up for updates. You'll also get an exclusive copy of my newsletter in your inbox each week. I also need your help getting the word out about the show by liking and sharing on social media, or like most people, just telling a friend. For more information about the show, you can find this podcast on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, and YouTube at Hanford Insider. If you have a show idea, be sure to email me at HanfordInsider at gmail.com and I'll look into it. Thank you so much for listening and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

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Rob Bentley

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