Moose Creek Café Gets New Mural

DAYTON-Ken Leiske calls Colville, Wash. his home, but his work as a signmaker takes him pretty much everywhere, he said.

Last week Leiske was in Dayton to paint a mural on the wall outside the Moose Creek Café and Bakery for business owners Aimee McGuire and Paul Mackay.

With a degree in Fine Arts and Communications from Walla Walla University, a master's equivalent from Western Washington University, and various certifications including a Washington State Teacher Education Certificate, Leiske's art career has spanned more than three decades and has taken him to far-flung places like Macau, Austria, and Wales.

But Leiske said his heart belongs to the Pacific Northwest.

"The clean air and natural surroundings keep my creative drive crisp and clear," he said.

Leiske is responsible for painting the iconic Tulip Festival smokestack in Mt. Vernon, Wash., and he has done graphics for the Northern Pacific Railroad, the Washington State Ferry system, and for the Nichols Bros. Boat Builders on Whidbey Island as well.

"I really enjoy travel," said Leiske. "I like learning about towns, helping beautify, and working with people like Paul," he added, referring to Paul Mackay, financial manager of the Moose Creek Café and Bakery.

Mackay said he heard about Leiske's work through some contacts at Walla Walla Community College. After seeing Leiske's mural on the water reservoir on Hwy. 12 in Walla Walla, Mackay contacted Leiske, and they met to discuss Mackay's vision for the café mural.

"We had a bakery with a big wall in historic green, and I kept remembering the camel mural at the Oasis Café," Mackay said about that mural in Roslyn, Wash.

Having a prominent moose on the wall should make the drive into, and out of, Dayton a memorable one, said MacKay, who hopes people will be inspired to stop and eat.

At the end of the four-day project at Moose Creek, Leiske headed to another job at his home base in Colville. He said he will be painting a mural for the Colville Historical Society this month.

But Leiske said he will come back to our area in a couple of months to refresh the paint on the water reservoir mural in Walla Walla, a job he does every year.