Arts Community Creates Smithsonian-sized Mural of Vermont Musician Portraits

Photo: ivamae of Dr. Sammy Love at Nectar's by Luke Awtry Photography. Download in high resolution.

New COVID-commemoration landmark arrives in heart of Burlington’s South End Arts District

BURLINGTON VT August 31, 2021: A very large public mural featuring hundreds of Vermont’s musicians is arriving in Burlington. Two local photographers and a world-renown design firm collaborated to produce the artwork, which is accompanied by a musical and spoken soundtrack. The project was coordinated by Big Heavy World, Vermont’s volunteer-run, independent music office.

The ‘…will you sing?’ mural is a public art project that brings the faces of Vermont's diverse musicians to a large space in the center of Burlington's South End Arts District, at the heart of the annual South End Art Hop celebration. It will be located in the Howard Space, a historic light industrial building where a concentration of artists and crafters have their studios and workshops. The wall-sized photo mural features more than 200 local musicians representing different ages, races, and styles of music, printed to cloth and stretching 43 feet. A QR code links to a key for artist identification and the audio soundtrack.

Photo: Kyle "Glorious Leader" Woolard by James Lockridge. Download in high resolution.

Black and white photo portraits of artists are taken weekly by James Lockridge during ‘Rocket Shop,’ a local music radio program hosted on 105.9FM The Radiator, a volunteer-programmed community radio station located inside Big Heavy World at the site of the mural. Lockridge, the mural project coordinator, has taken hundreds of portraits of Vermont-based musicians. He said, “In 2020 musicians and their support industries were crushed by the pandemic as performance venues were closed. They suffered directly as a community, and were separated from their audiences and each other. This project commemorates that experience while capturing the optimism and vitality of Vermont’s music community in images on a landmark scale.”

Photographer Luke Awtry contributed colorful images of live local music scenes in Vermont; Awtry’s studio is adjacent to Big Heavy World and shares the long hallway. Awtry said, “I was immediately excited about this project from the moment Jim approached me about it. I've taken literally hundreds of thousands of photos of musicians and bands in and around Burlington but it's rare that I get an opportunity to not only have them printed, but to have so many of them printed in one collaborative piece and so large as well. It is going to be such a treat to have the installation in the same hallway as my studio and to get to see both mine and Jim's work together in such a beautiful way on a daily basis.”

Artists seen in the mural artwork photographs include: Allie Krasner of Lake Waves; Bobby Coe; Ray Paczkowski of Soule Monde; Boys Cruise; Giant Peach; Eric Olsen of Swale; Bison; Griffin Moyer; A2VT; Dead Shakers; Bad to be Good; Zack Dupont & Tom Pearo; Batter; Willoughby Morse of Madaila; Lara Cwass; Ali T; Josh Dobbs with Dead Set; Myra Flynn; Babehoven; Sasha Simms of Barishi; David Rosane and the Zookeepers; Will Krulak; Bira; Padicus Reagan of Paper Castles; Ben Bivens of Brickdrop; K.C. Dressing of Bison; Bonnie Ward; Lillian Seibert of The Band of the Land; Sabouyouma; Jake Whitesell; Jonnie Day Durand of Silver Bridget; Dogs That Know They're Dogs; Vestal Oak; Meredith Davey of Gestalt; Antara; Miku Daza; Bobby Hackney of Rough Francis; Anais Mitchell; Adrienne Cooper Smith; Casey Rae of Rocketsled; Astrocat; Bill Mullins of Barbacoa; Takahiko Matsui of Appalled Eagles; Dan Ryan of Saturn People's Sound Collective; Heavy Gaze; Dan Bishop; Heady Betty; Matt the Gnat and the Gators; Surf Sabbath; Ver Sacrum; Omega Jade; Tyler Daniel Bean; Nick Awad Band; Craig Mitchell; Gahlord Dewald; Alex Pond of From The Ground Up; DJ Svpply; Brett Hughes; Rik Paleiri; Francesca Blanchard; Lauren Costello; Nick Cassarino; Fattie B; Thomas Gunn; 8084; Abbey B.K.; Dave Decristo with The Misty Mountain Hopera; George Nostrand; Clark Russell of Blowtorch; Abbie Moran of Hammydown; The Fobs; Mike Lynch of Miku Daza; Box of Stars; Diane Jean of Clever Girls; Insider; Matt Dolliver of Brickdrop; Mal Maiz; Stephanie Heaghney of JUPTR; Va-et-vient; Evan David Warner; Gang of Thieves; Scott Kirby of Burning Monk; Dino Bravo; Joe Adler; Andriana Chobot and Joshua Glass; John Donahue of Seamus the Great; Glorious Leader; Hilary Goldblatt of TURNmusic; Russ Lawton; Homebrew; Caroline O'Connor of Steady Betty; Aram Bedrosian; Dark Side of The Mountain; DJ Big Dog; Honey and Soul; Bear's Tapestry; Hayley Jane; Jason Cooley of Blue Button; Alex Toth of Rubblebucket; Craig Mitchell with Purple Plays the Hits; Ariel Zevon and Gahlord Dewald; Bishop LaVey; Dwight Ritcher; Tod Moses; Death; Eric George; ivamae; Dino-Bravo (& guest Ray Padgett); The Wee Folkestra; Brass Balagan; Tom Pearo and Shay Gestal; Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival artists; Green Mountain Quartet; Nicola Cannizzaro with TURNmusic; Shawna Potter with Mollie Allen and Cadence Gentley; The Edd; Hamjob; About Time; Rough Francis; Graham Brooks of Barishi; Robert Resnik and Gigi Weisman; Amy Wild of 3 St0ner Chix; Kat Wright and the Indomitable Soul Band; Ian Steinberg; Marshall Dominguez; Jarv; Julia Caesar; Tobias Yandow of Gnomedad; Exoerro; Jesse Taylor; and The Red Newts.

The artwork was created from the photographs by a team at Solidarity of Unbridled Labour, a strategic brand design practice that conceptualizes and realizes ideas that help guide and create culture and positive change within it. The firm is recognizable worldwide, serving brands like Burton Snowboards, Microsoft’s Xbox, Nike, Levi’s, Phish, MTV, Virgin, Lululemon, Yara, Seventh Generation, MasterClass, and Patagonia. Members of the mural design team include Dylan Fant; Kacey Pimentel; Byron O’Neill; and Srishti Jain. Michael Jager, Chief Creative Officer, donated this design work to the project. Jager said, “Sound and vision resonate powerfully in culture and the ‘...will you sing?’ experience, like the decades of community connection energy Big Heavy World creates, amplifies it!”

Photo: Craig Mitchell fronts Purple: A Tribute to Prince at the Higher Ground Ballroom by Luke Awtry Photography. Download in high resolution.

An audio soundtrack was produced in collaboration with the Vermont Folklife Center through its democratizing ‘Listening in Place’ project, archiving the voices and music of artists during the challenging COVID-19 public health emergency. Their voices, gathered during Zoom listening circles by host-producer Craig Mitchell, commemorate Vermont’s experience as they answer questions like, “How has the pandemic experience changed your worldview? Your perspective on humanity and your role as a creative person? What direct, practical impacts did COVID-19 have on you as an artist? As a person? What vision(s) do you have for how things could be different post-pandemic? What comment would you like to make about values in this challenging time in history?” Mitchell is a local DJ, musical artist and community-builder. The full listening circle recordings will be archived at the Vermont Folklife Center.

Above: Images by Luke Awtry Photography.

Artist included in the soundtrack include Matt Hagen (San Mateo); Bob Wagner (Bob Wagner & The Movelles); Josh Weinstein (Moonwake); Kyle Thompson aka DJ Fattie B (Belizbeha); Lucas Gledhill aka DJ Crwd Ctrl (Glamour Hammer); Matt Binginot (San Mateo); DJ Stevie B (Es-K); DJ Luis Calerdin (Gotan Project); DJ Kermitt (Es_K); Jarv; Rivan C; Asah Mack (Asah Mach); Robscure; Rik Palieri; Mark Sustic; Phil Henry; Howard Wooden (Woods Tea Company); and Reuben Jackson.

This quote by Vermont musician Myra Flynn is the central design component of the mural: 

“Musicians are historians. The soft and ever present Greek chorus of our times. The accidental change makers. The on purpose radicals. I can’t help but wonder where the music is right now? Where is it hiding? How do we make our instruments the streets and our voices the signs? Can we be the stenographer in the courtroom? The megaphone for the non-verbal? When politicians have failed us and written words are too suspect for us to trust...will you sing?"

Gamma Imaging of Chicago manufactured the mural with a superwide digital printer. The mural was made with cloth so it can be portable and can travel around the state to other exhibit sites.

Big Heavy World, the location of the mural, is an official site during the 2021 South End Art Hop.

The mural was inspired in part by ‘2020 Vision: Reflecting on a World-Changing Year,’ a statewide exhibition initiative of the Vermont Curators Group, in-person and online. The Vermont Curators Group is a network of museums, galleries, and cultural centers specializing in fine art, history, science, and craft. 

Photo: Omega Jade by James Lockridge. Download in high resolution.

Lockridge continued, “The community that is represented in the mural — Vermont musicians — are often marginalized in economic development strategies and make art independently while holding other jobs. This project celebrates the value of their creative contributions to Vermont’s arts and people; reflects their diversity; and commemorates their voice and the impact the pandemic has had on our society and humanity.”

The location of the mural is a long entryway hallway to the Howard Space. The building is the 1902 E.B. & A.C. Whiting Brush Fibre Company on the corner of Howard and Pine Streets. It is part of a complex that is central to the South End Arts District and the annual SEABA South End Art Hop. In the past few years artists organized to successfully resist zoning changes that would have exposed the complex to potential conversion and gentrification. The complex is a destination for pedestrians and commuters — it’s the home of a restaurant, coffeeshop, wine bar, bakery, and dozens of small creative industries including drum and jewelry makers, artists and graphic designers, glass blowers, woodcrafters, metalworkers, potters, sculptors, recording studios and more. 

YouthBuild, a project supporter, repaired and painted the hallway that the mural hangs in. Fred ‘Chico’ Lager, Mascoma Bank and the Burlington City Arts Community Fund generously sponsored portions of the cost of manufacturing the cloth mural. Unsworth Properties, the owner of the building, is supportive of the installation.

The mural will be open to the public for the first time on Friday, September 10, 5pm-10pm and Saturday, September 11, 10am-10pm. It will then be available for viewing during business hours when the main entrance to the building is open.

Big Heavy World is an independent nonprofit music development office established to archive and promote the original music of Vermont. With a crew of volunteers it publishes information about Vermont’s music industry, archives thousands of Vermont-made recordings, photographs and artifacts, and operates 105.9FM, a radio station highlighting the region’s creative community. It hosts the weekly ‘Rocket Shop’ local music radio hour and podcast that has featured ~700 Vermont-based artists. In 2020 Big Heavy World was recognized as ‘Best Global Music Office’ by an international Music Cities jury. The organization is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2021. For more, visit bigheavyworld.com. Contact James Lockridge, jim@bigheavyworld.com; (802) 865-1140.