Creating community murals for and with communities is incredibly life changing! Below is the first polytab community mural I had the honor of working on as part of a twelve muralist cohort with the Community Mural Institute (CMI) co-facilitated by Britt Ruhe of Commonwealth Murals and Greta McClain of Goodspace Murals.

 

The 2023 Morganton CMI - supported by the North Carolina Museum of Art, N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural & Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, Industrial Commons, Good Books LLC., Huffman Cornwell Foundation, and Morganton Mainstreet Office - was held at the Industrial Commons building in Morganton, NC from Spring through summer of 2023.  

 

Shown is the "You Build Our Community" mural designed by Team Lead Ian Brownlee then installed on the Industrial Commons building 647 Hopewell Road, Morganton, NC.

 

This essential worker themed mural was prepared by the essential workers team, painted by members of the community at two paint parties then refined, installed, and over-painted by Ian Brownlee, Deneer Davis, Kendra Williford, and myself (Buffy Taylor) with tutelage and assistance from the CMI co-facilitators (Greta & Britt) along with members of their staff Tess and Mr.TwoGoobs .

 

Of course Katherine Ervin, Creative Director of Toss Studio, deserves acknowledgement on a line of her own because it was her work with TOSS students, the community, steering committees, sponsors, funders, building owners, and CMI that brought these dreams to life. You can read a very detailed accounting including a backstory that stretches two years prior to the installation of the three murals in 2023 and soon to be another three murals in 2024. It's really an inspirational story that is worth understanding better. Go to the Toss website to read more about this project and everything else that makes Katherine and TOSS extraordinary!  

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