Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
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Martinsville, Virginia 24115
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Piedmont Arts Association announced Wednesday that a mural of a circus parade will be painted on the wall of the New College Institute building on Franklin Street in uptown Martinsville. The mural (above), designed by local artist John Stiles, was inspired by a photograph of elephants taking part in a circus parade by the old Henry County courthouse uptown. |
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Thursday, September 10, 2009
By HOLLY KOZELSKY - Bulletin Staff Writer
A circus parade once again will march through uptown Martinsville — permanently painted on the blue wall of New College Institute (NCI) at 30 Franklin St.
The mural design was inspired by a historic photograph provided by NCI building owners Mervyn and Virginia King.
The photo was taken from the second floor of Kearfott’s Drug Store and shows a parade of elephants and other performers advertising the arrival of a circus in Martinsville around 1920. The animals are shown on the old Henry County courthouse square, with that building, stores, vehicles and crowds of people in the background.
The mural depicts the elephants parading in front of the courthouse, complete with banners advertising the circus and also First National Bank, as people watch.
“The circus was a very big deal here throughout the country and small towns before the days of television,” King said.
Earlier this year, Piedmont Arts Association enlisted local graphic designer and artist John Stiles to create a contemporary mural design based on the photo.
Martinsville’s Architectural Review Board approved local graphic designer and artist John Stiles’ design for the NCI mural in July. NCI and the Kings also have approved it, Virginia King said.
Stiles’ work has “a contemporary style that would balance that (the historical connection) out and stay fresh and appealing to people in the college, and have that forward-thinking feel to it and keep their interest,” said PAA Director of Exhibitions Tina Sell.
Installation of the mural had been scheduled for earlier in the summer, but work was delayed when Stiles was accepted to the Savannah College of Art and Design and began moving to Georgia during that time, according to a news release.
The installation should take about a month, the release said. An unveiling ceremony is planned for November.
Transfer of the design will be done by Jeff Magnum of North Carolina. “He is very experienced in transferring a small picture onto a wall that size,” Sell said. “Very few people have done something on that scale.”
The mural then will be hand-painted by local artists, she added.
This will be the third mural installed by Piedmont Arts in the last two years as part of the Public Art Exhibit, a program funded in part by the Harvest Foundation.
The other two murals are the student-designed mural at the YMCA and a mural in panels by Betty LaDuke at the Uptown Farmers Market.
An earlier mural design featuring bubbles and clouds by Karen DeSpot was considered for the NCI building last summer, but “there just wasn’t much enthusiasm for it,” King said.
“They were concerned about the mural having a more historic scene and having more of a relation to its site,” Sell added. |
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