Every small business, no matter what kind, has a story.

The businesses themselves may come and go, but their impact on their community remains. That’s how painter Martin Pyle sees it — especially when it comes to Overland Park, where he lives.

Pyle’s newest project, “At Work: Stories of Overland Park”, aims to capture that. The series of paintings, depicting small business owners across Overland Park, was shown in its entirety for the first time this month.

The “At Work” project was years in the making

Pyle spent two years working on the 16 paintings that make up the series.

It was initially born out of an assignment in a painting class he was taking at Johnson County Community College, where he’d been asked to paint a figure — just any figure in their natural habitat.

For that assignment, he chose to capture longtime “healer of soles”, Henry Barbosa, at Overland Park Shoe Repair. Barbosa, who intends to retire at the end of this year, has been fixing up Overland Park’s shoes for decades.

That first painting, depicting Barbosa stooped over a repair in his downtown Overland Park shop, set the tone for the series. While some paintings are posed shots of business owners smiling in front of their storefronts, most capture owners and customers alike interacting, or owners doing the behind-the-scenes work that keeps their operations running.

In one painting, dancers and their teacher move through a studio at Miller Marley School of Dance and Voice. In another, moviegoers stand at the concession counter at the Glenwood Arts Theater.

“Johnson County has lots of small businesses that would have made great subjects,” he said. “I wanted a variety in ethnicity, in types of business, in environment.”

Pyle ultimately thinks of small businesses (and their owners) as the “fabric” of the community.

“If you took all the small businesses out, and all we had left was Home Depot and Lowe’s, small businesses give us the culture,” Pyle said. “A lot of the culture of Overland Park has to do with small businesses.”

Pyle has been an artist since his childhood

Though Pyle’s primary artistic medium is sculpting these days, he’s studied painting for years, including at the University of Kansas.

A Kansas City, Missouri native, his inkling for art goes back to elementary school, where he remembers becoming intrigued while learning about different works and the histories behind them.

“I’ve never forgotten that, just how fascinating that it was,” he said.

Not long after, he went on to enter three different posters in an art contest. He ended up taking home first, second AND third place in the contest.

“I realized at that time that I was more interested in art than most people,” he recalled.

The paintings were shown last week

Last week, the paintings lined the walls at Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Mission.

The location was fitting, as Pyle has helped put art on those walls for roughly a decade as an assistant gallery director for the church.

Following an opening reception last week, the paintings will remain up for roughly two months for anyone to view during the church’s regular hours.

In the end, Pyle said, it was more than the finished paintings that he got out of this project. It also gave him a front row seat into what keeps a business going, and what keeps customers coming back.

After all, he pointed out, it’s work that often happens without fanfare — and, historically, without art’s eye on it.

“Back in the Renaissance, or way back in art, I mean, who is depicted in a painting?” he said. “It’d be saints and religious figures. We don’t often depict the working man as worthy (of) a painting. Featuring them and making a big deal out of it, it’s a good feeling.”

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