“Preserving History” Mural Dedication on February 15 During a Month of Celebrations and Educational Activities!

On Saturday, February 15, 2020, The Georgetown Arts and Culture Board and numerous members of the community celebrated the completed Preserving History Mural by Norma Clark and Devon Clarkson.

The celebration included a Mayoral welcome followed by statements from mural artists and GCCMA; program concluded inside City Hall with refreshments and a viewing of the mural video and slideshow.

Exhibiting Georgetown Art Center artist Chelsey Antoinette also had pieces represented at the celebration by GCCMA Heart of the Headwrap workshop attendees. The workshop was held earlier that morning at the Art Center, and Chesley was in attendance at the celebration to address the significance of her artwork.

The month of February featured collaborative events that included the dedication of the “Preserving History” mural.  Collaborative events and educational activities were also hosted by the Georgetown Cultural Citizen Memorial Association, The Georgetown Art Center, and Lark & Owl Booksellers.  Please visit the arts calendar of events or click here for more information!

On Thursday, October 24th, 2019, the Arts and Culture Board hosted a community painting party for community members to come out and help paint portions of the mural.  It was a huge success in engaging the community to tell an important Georgetown story.

The “Preserving History” mural by Devon Clarkson and Norma Clark was awarded a grant by the Texas Commission on the Arts in September 2019 and began production at the back of City Hall in late October 2019. Because the mural  also forms a backdrop to the Historic African American Shotgun House, the Arts and Culture Board worked with the non-profit that operates the Shotgun House – Georgetown Cultural Citizen Memorial Association – to identify a theme that is important to the surrounding neighborhood and the constituents of the GCCMA. After reviewing several resources on the history of the neighborhood and meetings with GCCMA, a major theme that emerged was preserving history during a time of integration. While the major achievement of integration was the equality of access to services and educational opportunities to all groups of people in the community, another consideration was the importance of preserving history and culture during this period of major growth and change. When facilitating any growth and innovative changes within a community, such as the creation of public art murals and the construction of innovative programming spaces, it’s important to honor the culture and history of the area. The theme of integration can be applied to all scenarios that require a collaboration between different groups across generations and cultures: from integrating schools, to making way for rapid growth and development within a City, to the collaboration between artists of different levels of experience and styles.

Mary Smith Bailey was chosen as the subject of the “Preserving History” mural because she was an important local figure who helped steward many children in Georgetown through a period of historic growth and change. In 1953, Mary Bailey founded The West Side Kindergarten, the first preschool in the area to offer educational preschool services to non-white children. She believed that “preschool children benefit most from an educational environment that helps them develop self-confidence, the ability to get along with and help others, and the desire to learn. Today, hundreds of students and many changes later, the Mary Bailey [Head Start] Center continues to teach Georgetown children of all races the importance of learning”. (Histories of Pride, Thirteen Pioneers Who Shaped Georgetown’s African American Community)

Local portrait artist, Devon Clarkson, will paint the image of Mary Smith Bailey as the focal point of the mural. Devon’s experience includes local art exhibitions, as well as being the selected poster artist for the 20th Anniversary Red Poppy poster. Norma Clark, a local artist and graduate from Southwestern University, will create a montage of inspired abstract images that can be recognized as children and students participating in athletic and educational activities. Norma is an established professional artist whose experience includes numerous solo and group exhibitions across Central Texas. The collaboration of these two artists represents the integration of different artist styles to create something innovative and new while honoring and preserving culture and history.

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