Charleston, WV
Greetings from Charleston, West Virginia. It’s been a while since we’ve been able to add a new state to our mural series. We are officially half way to our goal at state number 25 and mural number 58!
We were originally in touch with Charleston almost 4 years ago. There were a few minor delays including a little global pandemic but happy to finally make it out there. Our mural painting abilities have definitely progressed a lot since the city first reached out so patience wins out in the end. We had a great time exploring this city and meeting tons of locals over the last week.
We would often drive through West Virginia on our travels from New York to Ohio to see Lisa’s family and friends back home. It’s a state that’s located totally within the Appalachian Mountain range giving its nickname the Mountain State. When we asked a lot of friends and family to name a city in West Virginia, a lot of them were stumped. Also, we had to correct a lot of people who thought we were painting in South Carolina’s Charleston which was apparently a common trend out here.
Lisa stayed home in California with Felix for this project, but we had a great team to help pull this together within a week. The trip kicked off with Victor’s luggage being delayed but luckily he packed the chalk and pounce patterns as carry on items. No time was wasted as we connected with Marshall Higgins. He was a fellow mural artist who came over from from Richmond, VA to help on the mural. Together, we got straight to pouncing out the design within minutes off the plane. Jeff Pierson, the city’s public art director also welcomed us and gave us a quick tour of the area to get us acquainted.
The next morning, the city held a press conference at the wall with the mayor to let the public know about the mural we were about to paint. It’s rare we would do these prior to the artwork being completed but it also gave us the chance to introduce ourselves and welcome the community to come chat with us during the week. At the end of the day, it’s the locals we meet that create the stories that really stick in our memories. Time after time, it starts off with the locals being skeptical of an out of towner artist but by the time we are finished, we end up forming new friendships with many across the country.
The location of this wall is unique because it’s at the entrance of a city parking garage that is open 24/7. There is a lot of benefit to being in a space like this because you don’t have to battle with the unknown elements of any bad weather. In fact, we were able to paint through a few rain days without any issue! It was the perfect mix of being outdoors and protected. In this case, this location holds several opportunities for mural interaction given the particular setting. The paint itself will also last longer since it’s not exposed to direct sunlight. In addition, the artwork will be fully lit throughout the night for those who stop by at night.
A huge shout out to Marshall Higgins for being amazing at masking and even teaching tricks with tape. Together, we knocked out a ton of the background ahead of schedule on the first day. It’s been an amazing experience to collaborate with so many talented artists across the country on the Greetings Tour project. Luckily, the downtown area we painted in was full of restaurants so we had no shortage of food options within walking distance. We also learned that pepperoni rolls were a big deal out here so we had to try some for ourselves.
Once the background and shell of the lettering was completed, we had the next wave of assistants come through for some brush work inside the lettering. David Wang (Boston) is no stranger as he’s already helped us with several mural projects prior. He brought his friend Gherman, Ukrainian artist now in New York, to also help out with the details. It’s a small world as it turned out everyone had mutual friends as we all had a similar background in the graffiti world.
By the third day, we were familiar with a lot of the locals on their daily routines including the parking garage staff. Locals started to stop by and give us ideas of things to include that we didn’t have planned. These public dialogues are some of our most memorable parts of each mural especially when their suggestions get painted. We also educated a lot of the locals about some of the imagery that they weren’t familiar with. In the end, the mural becomes a large visual tour guide of the community it lives in.
Image Details in the Charleston Mural
The letters C-H-A feature a sternwheeler on the Kanawha River, pronounced Kan-ah by the locals. The sternwheeler boats were born out of the transportation needs of the local salt industry. Charleston is also home to a popular race of the boats known as the Sternwheeler Regatta. The event took a 14 year hiatus and actually returned for the first time this year. Our hotel overlooked the waterfront and park where the Regatta takes place.
A local war vet stopped by to ask if we were including anything related to Chuck Yeager. We didn’t know too much about him besides the airport we flew into bearing his name. However, the local (didn’t get his name unfortunately) gave us an extensive history lesson! Yeager was the first pilot to break the sound barrier in a Bell X-1 which we included in the A. There was also a rumor that he flew one of his planes under the South Side Bridge on the river which he confirmed in this article.
If you look closely in the river bank in the C you might catch a glimpse of the elusive Mothman with his glowing red eyes. This was a highly requested subject to add into the artwork but he’s technically not from Charleston. Although, I’m sure he could easily travel here if he wanted!
Inside the R-L, we painted the West Virginia Capitol Building. It’s probably the most iconic landmark of Charleston. The architect Cass Gilbert was also responsible for the US Supreme Court Building as well as the Woolworth Building in NY. It stands even taller than our nation’s capitol building in DC. The gold leafing on the dome is not the original gold. It was painted over in blue in yellow at one point but due to public complaints it was re-guilded again in the 80’s. The foreground shows the Lincoln Walks at Midnight statue by sculptor Fred Torrey.
The E contains a baseball game at Appalachian Power Park (Go Charlies!) The S shows an image of the FestiVALL multi-arts festival that’s held for 10 days in June and 3 days in the Fall. The iconic figure holding a prop giant toothbrush on stilts is Chally Erb who recently passed away after a battle with ALS. He was a loved community figure who’s passion was making kids laugh and smile until his last days in a wheelchair. It’s heartwarming to be able to pay tributes back through art.
Letters T-O-N feature a collage of imagery focusing on musicians performing at Mountain Stage. It’s a two hour music radio show that’s distributed through NPR these days. The program features diverse music from traditional to modern. The show also travels sometimes as far as Fairbanks, Alaska for episodes! The drum shield in the N features artwork by the late Charly Jupiter that we did our best to replicate. We were lucky Jeff Pierson, a good friend of Charly, gave us a lot of insight into his art and life. There’s a documentary on HBO called “Our Towns” that has a segment on Charleston and Charly is featured painting one of his large detailed murals involving the community.
On the top of O we had to include a small (or technically large) tribute to Mortar Man who is just a few inches tall in real life. Local sculptor P. Joseph Mullins was working on the façade of a building next door, and he had some left-over concrete mortar. Unplanned, he made the sculpture with some leftover mortar and placed between the two buildings, about 12 feet high. He became one of the most popular pieces of local public art, but was removed at one point during renovations. So many people complained that he was brought back and still stands there today on the 100 block of Capitol Street. It’s funny because people either immediately knew about him or asked us what that figure was in the O.
Special thanks to local photographer Josh Saul who helped us document this project over the week! It was a pleasure connecting with so many of you in the Charleston community and we’ll definitely have to add a pit stop to say hello every time we’re back in the area!
“We are so excited the Greetings Tour is making a stop here in Charleston. The mural concept is a true reflection of Charleston and the vibrance that our city has to offer”
Letter Guide:
CHA - Monarch Butterfly, Bell X-1 & Sternwheeler on Kanawha River
RL - State Capitol & Lincoln Walks at Midnight Sculpture
E — Baseball at Appalachian Power Park
S — Stilt Walker at FestivALL
TON - Mortar Man & Musicians Playing on Mountain Stage
Press:
Charleston Gazette-Mail - Greetings from Charleston: Capital City gets postcard mural
WCHS - New postcard mural project unveiled in Charleston
WOWK - new postcard-style mural to be painted in downtown Charleston
HD Media - Video from Press Conference
Year: 2022
Mural Size: 14'H x 40'W
Location: 166 Summers St. Charleston, WV 25301