Leasure was commissioned to paint the Visconsi mural in 1995 for Dominic Visconsi one the nation’s leading shopping mall developers.The image above depicts only one fourth of the entire ceiling mural. This work of art was designed to visually expand the height of the ceiling and provide architectural elements to the room. The ceiling fresco design resides in the dining room. Marble and sculptured figures flanking the dinning room’s fireplace gave Leasure a his pallet and design elements to work with. The artwork was first painted on canvas stretched onto a huge 12’ x 12’ wooden frame built from two by six planks for strength. Once completed the mural was cut free from the wood frame and adhered to the ceiling in one piece, a monumental task. Ken Leasure, the artist’s father assisted with the installation along with an apprentice.

History of the Visconsi Family

1930s Anthoni Visconsi, a former bricklayer, realized that the proliferation of the automobile would have a profound impact on the way America lived.

Visconsi's ingenuity inspired him to respond to this newfound mobility by creating suburban shopping centers with ample off-street parking. These days it's an obvious notion; but at the time, many people still did their shopping in downtown business districts where parking was difficult to find or by walking to neighborhood stores.

Anthoni Visconsi's early developments - multiple storefront buildings set back from the street to allow head-in parking, pioneered the development of what we now recognize as community shopping centers and regional malls. Anthoni's son, Dominic, later expanded upon his father's business ideas, ultimately forming a partnership that would grow to become the nation's fifth largest developer of shopping malls, known as Jacobs, Visconsi & Jacobs Co.