The Fox Hunt of Ponca City by City Arts has begun

In Sept. of 2022, City Arts put out a call for all local artists to take a 54 inch tall fox statue and bring it to life. Now, in the new year, many of the foxes have begun to pop up in Ponca City. Currently there are about 6 foxes that have been placed at local businesses and there are many more to come.

In recent years, the fox has become the unofficial animal of Ponca City. The history behind both the art and the actual foxes that are seen regularly in town is actually quite common. E.W. Marland, former Governor of Oklahoma and well known oil businessman, brought the sports of polo and fox hunting to Oklahoma and he would import these red foxes in from Pennsylvania. Red foxes are not indigenous to this area, but when Marland held these fox hunts, he wasn’t always successful at catching all of the foxes he brought in. The ones that escaped found other local foxes and began to breed and now descendants of those Marland foxes are still seen in Ponca City today.

The fox you see here was painted by Tox Murillo, a local spray paint artist. When Tox isn’t painting foxes in Ponca City, he stays busy by creating masterpiece murals and other commissioned work throughout Oklahoma. This piece was created using airbrushing, spray paint, and paint brushes.

“I use this medium because it allows me to express myself in a very free way and the finish is always very clean,” says Tox.

This fox was brought to life as Tox freehanded his design onto it. He started with layers of spray paint and used airbrushing and paint brushes for the finishing details. As the picture shows, the fox has several themes that run throughout the entire piece. The body is comprised of orange leaves that tie really nicely into the sunset scene that is painted on the chest. Peaking through areas of the fox, you can see galaxy themed scenes. These can be seen on the tail, shoulder, and the feet of the fox.

“My inspiration for this project was the nature that surrounds me here in Oklahoma that gives me a feeling of tranquility. At the same time, I consider that in a certain way it is also alive and is surrounded by the universe, which is what inspired me in this project.”

Tox said that another thing that greatly helped him with this project was the creative freedom and confidence that Jodi R. Cline gave him.

These foxes are made in the United States from polyurethane resin casting and painted using Nova brand paint, which is manufactured for outdoor mural use. Tox Murillo, with the help of City Arts and Jodi R. Cline, created this masterpiece for the citizens of Ponca City. You can join the fox hunt now by finding the 6 foxes that are out in the wild now, on or around Grand. To give you a starting place, this fox has been placed at the Jodi R. Cline, Edward Jones Investments at 110 S. 4th St. Keep a lookout for the new members of the fox hunt family to make appearances very soon.