The Magic City Mural Collective

In 2013 I became a “member” of the Magic City Mural Collective. The legend states that the idea was originated by Merrilee Challiss, Scotty Lee, Jonathan Purvis, and John Lytle Wilson at the Bonaroo music festival. The group of friends spent a lot of time at the festival creating murals on the walls erected for artists to decorate. Soon after there was an “Art Nite” hosted at BottleTree in Avondale. I remember showing up and seeing folks all painting together on a large canvas spread out on a table. Folks seemed to really be having fun expressing themselves and collaborating on the painting, and I was having fun too. There were a few more “meetings” of sorts creating letters & collaborating on paintings, but eventually the opportunity arose to actually paint a real live mural.

I can’t remember exactly how, but there was a gray wall in Woodlawn that we were approached about doing a mural on. Someone suggested that we do the “It’s Nice To Have You In Birmingham” phrase that had been recently re-popularized. The idea began to take shape. Brandon Watkins, Bo Hughins, and Doug Baulos worked together to scale up the design for the wall space, and one night we projected the image onto the wall and traced it with spray paint. I had some limited experience of how to paint murals, but had never really made something with a paintbrush like this. It was my first real taste of sign painting. So many talented folks came out to help. Katie Thompson, Doug Baulos, Paul Wilm, Jonathan Purvis, Brandon Watkins, Merrilee Challis, Gordon Eason and probably more folks that I’m forgetting too.

My favorite project was the “Dream The Unthinkable” mural next to Parker High School in the Smithfield neighborhood of west Birmingham that was designed by Brandon Watkins. It was a collaboration with students from the robotics club of Parker High and their teachers. We met so many kind and wonderful folks in the process of painting it, and it really felt special to share that time together.

From there we had several more opportunities to collaborate with local businesses to “elevate the visual landscape” with murals and signs. In 2016 the group disbanded. It was a pretty tough decision, but we weren't quite able to agree on a path forward.

Looking back there are so many things I would have done differently. I folded too much of my personal life into the group instead of focusing on making space for others.

I have lots of regrets, but I’m very thankful that I got to experience that short burst of magic in my life.