Take brush in hand to bring color to Pigeon Center mural

Paul Nielsen, The Mountaineer, Waynesville, N.C.
·3 min read

May 19—Would you want to say you helped paint a lasting mural that celebrates the history of a former school in Waynesville's historically Black community before integration?

Here is your chance, and no experience is necessary.

The community is invited to a painting party at the Pigeon Community Multicultural Development Center on June 22 to assist New York artist Kristy McCarthy in the painting of a mural that celebrates the history and diversity of the Pigeon Center. The Pigeon Center is located in what was once the Pigeon Street School, the elementary school for Black students from 1957 until the county schools were fully integrated in 1966. The original Pigeon Street School dated back to 1924 and was located just across the Oakdale Road from the current site. Though years of segregation meant the Black children of Haywood often faced discrimination and fewer educational opportunities, the community around that school embraced its children, and the teachers there have become legendary to the following generations.

McCarthy was selected over nine other artists by the Waynesville Public Art Commission earlier this year to design and paint the 60-foot long and 12-foot-high mural. McCarthy's mural incorporates symbols and visual metaphors that illustrate the past, present and future of the center.

Town council unanimously approved the design of the mural at its meeting on Tuesday.

The WPAC is funding the mural from a $15,000 Haywood County Tourism and Development grant and from around $7,500 it has raised for the project. The organization has applied for a $15,000 T-Mobile Grant that would fund the remainder of the project. But if that grant application is denied, the WPAC has enough money within its fund balance to pay the remaining cost.

"The Waynesville Public Art Commission has worked very closely with the Pigeon Community Multicultural Development Center throughout this process in order to develop a theme, and a vision for this project that will result in a completed piece which they are proud of, and that the town is proud of," Town Manager Rob Hites said.

McCarthy hosted a community listening session in early April where members of the Pigeon community and alumni of the former school were invited to share stories, photos and memories with the artist.

Community members were able to help shape the final concept of the mural and incorporate their chosen theme. That theme has three elements:

Past: Black education in rural America;

Present: Safe place; security; community;

Future: Voice of many.

The community painting party on June 22 would involve painting by numbers, WPAC chairman George Kenney said. No time for the painting party was announced.

"The project is a culmination of 2-and-a-half years of work," Kenney said. "The mural has much history and symbolism in it."

Councilmember Jon Feichter praised the inclusion of the three original teachers at the school on the mural.

"That is beautiful," Feichter said of the mural.

According to the artist, the mural will not be painted directly on the building but will instead be painted on panels and installed with industrial adhesive that adheres to the textures of the exterior brick wall. Following the community painting party, McCarthy along with Western Carolina University art students Jerel Tavares and Miguel Perez will install the mural on the Pigeon Street center.

Following the installation, a sealant that can be reapplied every seven years will be put on the mural, which will maintain its the quality and protect it from the sun. It will also make graffiti easier to remove.

The unveiling ceremony for the mural is scheduled for Saturday, June 29.