Off the Wall

Community murals add color and character to downtown New Albany.

Written by Eugene Stockstill  | Photos by Joe Worthem

New Albany has an ongoing art exhibit that’s open 24 hours a day to everybody free of charge. The painting, in fact, is all over the walls.

A $100,000 grant from the American Rescue Plan Act recently brought a quintet of artists to “The Fair and Friendly City,” who created murals on the exterior walls of several businesses throughout the downtown area.

Visitors to New Albany are likely to be pleasantly amused by these public works of art, much like they are by the city’s unique middle-of-the-road parking option.

“These murals … bring life and color to the area, showcasing themes that reflect the city’s culture, history and natural beauty,” according to the website for the New Albany Main Street Association, which oversaw the project. “They are a part of an initiative to beautify the city and attract visitors.”

Let’s start west of town, where you’ll find the first one: A big welcome sign that proclaims the city’s establishment in 1840. Mississippi native Graham Carraway, who now lives in Denver, did that one.

Then, veer east onto Main Street, where you’ll find two more. One is by Carraway’s pal Gavin Bird, who lives in Jackson. Bird applied for the New Albany project at the same time as Carraway, and you can find a sample of his work on the east end of the Muddy Mallard store.

That one includes a portrait of William Faulkner, zinnias and crape myrtles sprouting from a book (Faulkner featured those blossoms in print), the county’s courthouse dome, a deer, a steam engine, a bicycle (think Tanglefoot Trail) and, of all things, an ammonite fossil and an American mastodon.

The floral pattern in the background reflects a design on dinner plates preserved from the old Rainey Hotel, which burned down twice. The fossil and mastodon harken to prehistory in the area now known as New Albany, said Bird, who studied with Jill Smith at the Union County Heritage Museum before he started his work.

To learn more about how Bird transforms a hodgepodge of squiggles and shapes into gigantic art, go to the New Albany Main Street Association’s website (newalbanymainstreet.com/downtown-murals) for a video of Bird himself explaining his process. 

“I love painting on a large scale,” said Bird. “It is very impactful to be driving past a mural that is 20 times the size of your car.”

Bird’s work can also be seen in Belzoni, Yazoo City, Sunflower, North Carrollton, Water Valley and Hattiesburg. In December, he completed a mural just off the Square in Oxford. Turn to page 34 for more on that.

Carraway’s other mural is located a few feet away at Carter Avenue and Main Street in what was once known as the Jockey Yard. It features an old Double Cola logo, another picture of the courthouse, a donkey in mid-bray, a water tower, a man on horseback and a hand holding up a Bible. These images relate to turn-of-the-century reality in old New Albany, where mule trading, preaching and singing were all a part of the Carter Street Jockey Yard.

Just up the way, “The Musicians’ Mural” on the side of the Union County Appliance and Furniture Store (right by the Tanglefoot Trail) has pictures of Bobby Wood, Sam Mosley, Bob Johnson, Paid in Full, Roma Wilson, the Rev. Leon Pinson, Zeke Listenbee, the Rev. Lee Russell Howell and Billy Ball, musicians with connections to New Albany.

Deborah Mansfield and Chloe Welch of West Point and Marion Sansing, a native of Germany who now lives in Starkville, did that groovy one together.

And finally, a floral mural by Mansfield and Welch can be found on the upscale restaurant Nico’s. That colorful work includes, among other things, flowers, mushrooms, a frog, a bird and a butterfly, all bearing witness to the area’s biodiversity.

“Outdoor murals can change the look and feel of a space,” said Mansfield, a trained landscape architect who also has an affinity for murals. “I love the feeling of standing on a street and hearing the sounds of a town.”

Meanwhile in Oxford…

Jackson-based artist Gavin Bird also recently painted a huge mural right off the Square in Oxford. Moe’s Original BBQ on Lamar commissioned and funded “Magnolia Soul,” a partnership facilitated by Earl Dismuke, an Ole Miss graduate, sculptor and public art coordinator.

The mural is located on the side of Moe’s. From left to right, the mural depicts the late local bluesman R.L. Burnside; a fife (for the style of music known as hill country blues, which Burnside helped popularize); a water tower; the city’s courthouse; a magnolia flower; the Thacker Mountain fire tower; a red phone booth; a microphone; a squirrel (commemorating a famous incident at a football game); Ronzo (local icon Ron Shapiro); writer Barry Hannah; and a book.

“The week I got started painting was bitter cold, but it was just warm enough for the paint to cure properly,” Bird said. “I was having to dodge rainy days.”

Scott Burton, a local who was shooting film around Oxford at the time the mural was going up, is currently finishing a timelapse video of the project. Dismuke helped with the painting. Local mural artist Taylor Shaw heard about the work and came to help, too.

Bird has painted more than 60 murals across Mississippi. “Magnolia Soul” is his only mural in Oxford. “But it had to be the most fun mural I have painted,” he said. “Just based on how much the community got involved and wanted to contribute during the painting process. It was a great time.”