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Anselme Long had grown up under a master artist and graduated from art school, but unlike many of his peers he was stepping into the world not with the mentality that he knew everything, but as an apprentice. Caleb Clark, a talented portrait artist, mixed and placed the plaster in the mornings. John Dempsey III, one of the leading color experts in fresco colors, met with the team over and over, grinding and experimenting with colors to ensure they would work for the specific atmosphere, the precise age and mixture of plaster, and the careful strokes of the imported brushes.
Every day they showed up early, before the edge of town came to life, mixing plaster and coating the wall in the small area Christopher planned to paint that day. Seasons changed as the colored wall slowly came together into the vision Holt had sketched a year before.
Sometimes it's not just a great idea, or talent, but persistence that pays off. The fresco artists had all of it: vision, talent, skill. But you cannot rush the process - it would have crumbled had they not been tenacious and steadfast. The reaction of pigment with limestone not only lasts, but grows deeper and brighter with time. That is the difference between a spray painted mural and a buon fresco.
This was the calmest and most grounded period in my life, watching this work slowly bloom on the wall. And I reach back for the memory of that peace regularly. As I sit here writing this I’m struggling with the manuscript of a novel I started twenty years ago, and have put aside for many different projects. I remind myself again and again - patience. I know the rewrite now is coming with that extra 20 years of experience and education that is going to make it richer, more impactful. So many people have helped me along the way, from teachers and friends, books and experiences. Not a thing has been wasted as I’ve built my life. Not a thing was wasted as the artists painted lives on the Haywood Street Wall.
That’s why we work on today with dogged patience. Capturing beauty, and holding to the enlightened vision we’ve been brave enough to put out to the world.
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