The Legacy of the Hellbender
In 2019, we hired an Italian man goes by the name of Hitnes to lead a training for muralists in and around the Appalachian region. Some good folks in Harlan let us use a building they owned as our canvas. In one weekend in June, Hitnes worked with thirty artist/trainees to put murals on three sides of that building. Hitnes comes out of a graffiti tradition and didn’t do much sketching before he went to painting. He taught his method to the artists in attendance, and they took care of two sides of the building while Hitnes handled the third. They worked with brushes lashed to twelve foot long sticks and they worked fast. The trainees painted fish and turtles and jellyfish and various other aquatic critters, and Hitnes created a hundred-foot-long hellbender salamander with various other red salamanders (and one canary) swirling around it. The artists worked some off pictures from the Internet, some out of their own heads. It was a beautiful project. The results stood from the summer of 2019 until the Spring of 2022, when the city of Harlan acquired the building and tore it down. Rest in power, hellbender and pals. Like all things endangered, you remind us to savor the day and stick together to help each other remember.
-Robert Gipe
In 2019, we hired an Italian man goes by the name of Hitnes to lead a training for muralists in and around the Appalachian region. Some good folks in Harlan let us use a building they owned as our canvas. In one weekend in June, Hitnes worked with thirty artist/trainees to put murals on three sides of that building. Hitnes comes out of a graffiti tradition and didn’t do much sketching before he went to painting. He taught his method to the artists in attendance, and they took care of two sides of the building while Hitnes handled the third. They worked with brushes lashed to twelve foot long sticks and they worked fast. The trainees painted fish and turtles and jellyfish and various other aquatic critters, and Hitnes created a hundred-foot-long hellbender salamander with various other red salamanders (and one canary) swirling around it. The artists worked some off pictures from the Internet, some out of their own heads. It was a beautiful project. The results stood from the summer of 2019 until the Spring of 2022, when the city of Harlan acquired the building and tore it down. Rest in power, hellbender and pals. Like all things endangered, you remind us to savor the day and stick together to help each other remember.
-Robert Gipe
The Great Mountain Mural Mega Fest Series
What is it?
Simply put. It is a gathering of artists, teachers, students, and creative placemakers interested in learning how to:
Participants in The Great Mountain Mural Mega Fest will find themselves in a gathering of people deeply involved and invested in expanding the role of art and artists in community development and local economies.
Registration & ScholarshipsScholarships covering lodging, food, and registration are available. Applications for the scholarship are embedded into the registration link above. All conference attendees should consider applying for a scholarship!
For more information, contact Robert Gipe at robert.gipe@kctcs.edu or 606-620-3913.
Support for the Great Mountain Mural Mega Fest include the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Appalachian Impact Fund, the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky, Berea College’s Partners for Education, and The Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation.
The Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College Appalachian Program is the host organization for the Great Mountain Mural Mega Fest. The SKCTC Appalachian Program is the home of
What is it?
Simply put. It is a gathering of artists, teachers, students, and creative placemakers interested in learning how to:
- Create enduring outdoor, large scale murals;
- Work with property owners and local governments to make public art happen;
- Engage schools, youth, and other community members in the design and creation of public murals; and
- Integrate the creation of murals into larger plans for community development and creative placemaking.
Participants in The Great Mountain Mural Mega Fest will find themselves in a gathering of people deeply involved and invested in expanding the role of art and artists in community development and local economies.
Registration & ScholarshipsScholarships covering lodging, food, and registration are available. Applications for the scholarship are embedded into the registration link above. All conference attendees should consider applying for a scholarship!
For more information, contact Robert Gipe at robert.gipe@kctcs.edu or 606-620-3913.
Support for the Great Mountain Mural Mega Fest include the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Appalachian Impact Fund, the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky, Berea College’s Partners for Education, and The Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation.
The Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College Appalachian Program is the host organization for the Great Mountain Mural Mega Fest. The SKCTC Appalachian Program is the home of
- Higher Ground, a community performance project that creates original musical drama out of the stories, challenges, and strength of the people of Harlan County, Kentucky;
- It’s Good To Be Young in the Mountains (IG2BYITM), a series of conferences run by youth in the mountains;
- Hurricane Gap Community Theater Institute, which brings communities working on oral history-based, community-driven theater projects together with a national array of theater artists and arts organizers to strengthen the bond between art and communities; and
- The Southeast Kentucky Revitalization Project, which coordinates workforce development and training in job skills that support community development, including construction trades related to building renovation, hospitality, and design, and includes a branding campaign.
Topics covered in our trainings include:
- Intro to Public Art, Murals as Placemakers
- Public Art, Placemaking, and Community Engagement
- How to Design a Large Scale Mural
- Materials in Mural Making
- How to Plot Out a Mural for a Wall
- Tips and Tricks for Painting and Finishing a Mural
- The Business Side of Being a Muralist
The Great Mountain Mural Mega Fest is a place for:
- Visual artists who have never made an outdoor mural to learn the technical skills involved from veteran mural artists;
- People with all levels of experience in mural making to be with one another to trade ideas and experiences and plan future work; and
- Current and future mural makers to engage with experts in other aspects of public art making beyond the art itself—areas like fundraising, working with local government, and community organizations—and connect with national creative placemaking organizations and practitioners.
