On a stretch of Esterbrook Road in Wyoming, a new kind of public art now stands watch over the entrance to the Wyoming Rescue Mission Recovery Ranch. Windborne Wyoming Mustangs is a mural like no other. It rises eight feet tall and stretches 120 feet long, and across its surface, 40 mustangs gallop in a single, powerful wave of motion. The canvas for this mural was not stretched cotton or prepared wood. It was born from retired wind turbine blades, the massive, curved sections that once turned in the Wyoming wind. For sculptor Chris Navarro, those blades became an invitation to create something lasting, hopeful, and deeply tied to the landscape around him.

Retired Wind Turbine Blades Find a Second Life

Wind turbine blades are engineered to endure years of strong wind and harsh weather. That durability makes it difficult to retire gracefully. When blades come down from service, they are often seen as waste. Navarro saw a different possibility. The Windborne Wyoming Mustangs sculpture was created from discarded wind turbine blades, and those blades now carry one of the most striking murals in the state.

The retired blades are getting a second life thanks to the artist's vision. Instead of fading into an industrial graveyard, they became the surface for a herd of running mustangs painted at full gallop. The choice of material is central to the artwork's message. Something built to withstand the elements was given a new purpose, proving that even the most stubborn objects can be transformed.

The Wall of Renewal Takes Shape

The project carries a name that captures its deeper meaning: the Wall of Renewal. The title points to the idea that things once considered used up or cast aside can be made new again. That theme runs through every part of the project, from the recycled blades to the people who helped build it.

The finished mural stands eight feet high and measures 120 feet in length. Forty mustangs gallop across the blades, and the artwork is described as a powerful symbol of strength and hope. For a place devoted to second chances, the symbolism feels perfectly placed.

The sculpture was also designed to work as a functional snow fence. Installed to protect the entrance to the Wyoming Rescue Mission Recovery Ranch, it does practical work while it tells a visual story. In Wyoming, where winter weather can be severe, a piece of art that doubles as infrastructure earns its place in the landscape.

Why the Mustang Matters in Wyoming

Mustangs are woven into the identity of Wyoming and the American West. The Bureau of Land Management manages 14 wild horse herd management areas in Wyoming, covering nearly 5 million acres. Those areas are home to roughly 2,566 animals, a living reminder that wild horses still move across the high plains.

The mustang represents freedom, endurance, and a spirit that refuses to be contained. By painting 40 of them at full gallop, Navarro turned the mural into a study of motion and energy. The horses appear to fly across the blades, running without a fence to stop them. In that sense, the mural mirrors the story of renewal at the heart of the project.

A Community Effort at the Recovery Ranch

The Wall of Renewal was not built in isolation. The construction of the sculpture was helped by Wyoming Rescue Mission residents who were once homeless and struggling with joblessness and drug addiction. These residents are now getting back on their feet, working to find a new purpose as productive members of society.

Their participation gave the project a profound human dimension. A sculpture made from discarded blades, built by people building new lives, standing at the entrance to a recovery ranch. The layers of meaning stack naturally. This is not art that simply hangs on a wall. It was made by a community, for a community, and its creation was as meaningful as its final form.

Navarro has described the journey to this moment as a long road. Reaching the finish brought a sense of completion that went beyond the satisfaction of a job well done. The mural is a testament to persistence, both for the artist who refused to give up on unusual material and for the residents whose own journeys require the same kind of patience and resolve.

A Permanent Place on Esterbrook Road

Windborne Wyoming Mustangs opened to the public on September 3 at Art 321, giving visitors a look at the completed mural. The public art now stands at the entrance to the Wyoming Rescue Mission Recovery Ranch on Esterbrook Road in Esterbrook, Wyoming, where it greets everyone who arrives.

For those who live nearby, the mural is a daily landmark. For those traveling to the ranch for recovery services, it is a sign of hope before they even step inside. For art lovers, it is proof that creativity can find a home in the most unexpected materials.

The Wall of Renewal is a fitting name for this project. It speaks to the power of transformation: the discarded becoming beautiful, the lost finding purpose, and a community coming together to build something that will stand for years. The mustangs gallop on, and their story continues.

The Windborne Wyoming Mustangs mural is located 30 miles south of Douglas Wy at the entrance to the Wyoming Rescue Mission Recovery Ranch on Esterbrook Road in Esterbrook, Wyoming. It is a public art installation that also serves a practical purpose as a functional snow fence, protecting the ranch entrance while welcoming visitors with its 40 galloping mustangs.

The mural stands eight feet tall and stretches 120 feet long. Across that large surface, 40 mustangs gallop across the reclaimed wind turbine blades that form the artwork. The piece is designed to be seen from a distance, with the full herd reading as one continuous wave of motion and energy.

The mural is painted on discarded wind turbine blades that were retired from service. Instead of being thrown away, the blades were repurposed as both the canvas and the structure for the sculpture. This choice gives the artwork its alternate name, the Wall of Renewal, because it transforms something discarded into something beautiful and useful.

Construction of the mural was helped by Community volunteers and Wyoming Rescue Mission residents who were once homeless and struggling with joblessness and drug addiction. Now getting back on their feet, these residents worked to find a new purpose as productive members of society. The project became a true community effort with deep meaning for everyone involved.

The Windborne Wyoming Mustangs sculpture was completed on August 2, 2026. The public art now stands permanently at the entrance to the Wyoming Rescue Mission Recovery Ranch on Esterbrook Road, where it continues to serve as a symbol of strength and hope.

Film maker Anthony Stengel winner of  three Emmys is producing a documentary about Windborne for Wyoming PBS.

https://www.chrisnavarro.com/page/50882/windborne-wyoming-mustangs-mural-project  More information 

Chris Navarro Art Bio

Chris Navarro is a name collectors of Western art know well. For nearly four decades, he has shaped clay, wax, and molten bronze into powerful images of cowboys, Native Americans, and the wildlife of the American West. His sculptures do not whisper for attention. They demand space, sky, and light, which is why so many of them stand as monumental public works.

Today, his art anchors Navarro Gallery and Outdoor Sculpture Garden in Sedona, Arizona, where more than 90 bronze sculptures fill the indoor and outdoor spaces. This is his story: a Wyoming cowboy, a rodeo rider, and a self-educated artist who became one of the most recognized monumental bronze sculptors in the country.

A Wyoming Cowboy with Rodeo Roots Chris Navarro was born in 1956 and grew up in the culture of the American West. He is, by his own account, a true Wyoming cowboy, a team roper, and a former bull and bronc rider. Before he ever picked up sculpting tools professionally, he knew what it felt like to sit on the back of a bull and to compete in the arena.

His path took him across the Atlantic when his father, a career Air Force officer, was transferred to Europe. Navarro graduated from high school in Madrid, Spain, then returned to Wyoming to attend Casper College. He came to Casper, WY to rodeo at Casper College. After college, he pursued a career in rodeo, hoping to make it as a professional rider.

That rodeo life gave him something no art school could do. He developed a deep, physical understanding of the cowboy, the horse, and the motion of the arena. Years later, when he began sculpting, those memories gave his work an authenticity that is hard to fake. He sculpts them from a life he lived.

Chris Navarro is a self-educated, award-winning sculptor. He has been sculpting professionally since 1986. There were no formal degrees in bronze casting on his path, no long apprenticeship under a master sculptor. Instead, he brought the same determination he once carried into the rodeo arena and applied it to clay and wax.

Learning to sculpt means learning the full cycle of bronze work. The artist starts with an original model in clay or wax, builds the armature, works the surface until the gesture feels right, and then follows the piece through the casting process. Navarro mastered each stage through practice and persistence.

Over time, that education paid off. His work has earned national awards, and Navarro is now recognized as a national award-winning artist. His reputation grew piece by piece, commission by commission, until his monumental bronzes became fixtures in museums and public spaces across the country.

Navarro's sculptural style is often described as monumental, and that is fitting. He is best known for large public sculptures, many of them larger than life. The themes that anchor his body of work include:

Western and cowboy subjects rooted in his rodeo background

Wildlife of the American West

Native American figures and cultural stories

Inspirational pieces designed to lift the spirit

"In 2026, Navarro completed the Windborne Wyoming Mustangs mural project — a 120-foot sculpture built from discarded wind turbine blades, painted with 40 running mustangs by Wyoming Rescue Mission residents and community volunteers. For Navarro, it captured what he cares about most: turning what was cast aside into something with hope and purpose."

There is a consistent thread through all of it: motion. A bronc bucking, a rope flying, a horse mid-stride. Navarro captures split seconds of action and freezes them in bronze. His figures feel alive because he understands anatomy, balance, and the way weight shifts during movement.

His Western pieces honor the working cowboy and the rodeo athlete. His wildlife pieces celebrate the animals of the American West with the same respect. His Native American works carry a sense of history and dignity. And his inspirational pieces speak to something larger, which is why many collectors say his art feels emotional as much as it feels decorative.

Monumental Public Works and Museum Collections

The scale of Navarro's career is visible in his public work. More than 42 monumental bronze sculptures have been placed throughout the country. His work is included in 12 museum collections, a mark of recognition that places him among respected contemporary Western artists. One of his well-known commissions is the University of Wyoming cowboy riding the famous bucking horse Steamboat. Wyoming Cowboy is a public piece that reflects his home state's ranching heritage. It is the kind of work Navarro is known for: a larger-than-life bronze that becomes part of the landscape and the identity of the place where it stands.

Public sculpture is a unique challenge. It has to work at a distance and up close. It must survive weather and time. And it must earn its place in the community. Navarro's monumental bronzes have proven they can do all three. They anchor plazas, campuses, and open spaces, inviting people to walk around them and see the West from every angle.

Navarro Gallery and Sculpture Garden in Sedona

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