Dozens of people gathered last week to celebrate cutting the ribbon on downtown Morehead’s newest public art installation.
“Today is the dedication of our Morehead Sister Cities mural, that celebrates and honors our relationship with our two sister cities, Ballymena in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, and Yangshuo in Guangxi province, Peoples Republic of China,” said James Masterson, President of the Board of Morehead Sister Cities.
He said the mural on the side of Fat Patty’s - the former home of Pasquales - has been something of a pet project for him and other members of the board for quite some time, and now that it’s complete he couldn’t be more pleased.
“I think this is an invaluable addition to the already beautiful public artwork that has been going on in the city for the last three, four years now,” said Masterson.
Abbie Grace is a local muralist and creator of the mural. She said the process to design and paint the mural was long, but she knew from the beginning where the process would take her.
“My design started with the three birds, so the blue heron is representing Morehead, and the Swan is from a folk tale from Northern Ireland, and the Cormorant is the traditional Chinese fishing bird,” said Grace.
The three birds are prominently featured, but Grace said she knew she wanted more substance and representation for the mural. She said she looked around and took inspiration from the natural beauty of the three cities.
“From there I created the backdrops of each regional area, Morehead has the Appalachian Mountains or Appalachian foothills, China has the Li River mountains, and then Ireland has the cliffs and the Northern Ireland Landscape,” said Grace.
The three landscapes and birds are connected by a large banjo in the center of the design.
Steven Middleton is an instructor of Mass Communication at Morehead State University and a board member of Morehead Sister Cities. He was at the ribbon cutting, and shared some of his experiences traveling to the cities in question.
“I think that this mural is amazing. Now, I have traveled to China with the university, and last fall I was chosen to go to our sister city in Ballymena, and I think it’s amazing. We saw the murals in both of those other countries, and they were beautiful,” said Middleton.
Having just returned from her own trip to Ballymena, Morehead Mayor Laura White-Brown was there to celebrate the occasion. She said although an ocean separates them, Ballymena and Morehead have quite a bit in common.
“Everything Jim Masterson said about the beauty of the area reminds me very much of the beauty of Appalachia, and I think it’s a great connection there. And then also the, just the people were so wonderful in every form and fashion. They wanted to learn all they could about Morehead, and they wanted to teach us everything they could about Ballymena,” said White-Brown.
She said the concept of public art bloomed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was on a seminar call, and they said there’s so few things you can do right now to bring happiness to people, but public art was one of them because you can do it safely, people can admire it safely, and so that has really kind of paved the way for public art here, and so to continue that but to show the culture of another community in ours is really outstanding,” said White-Brown. She said she hopes to see even more public art in Morehead in the future.
Steven Middleton also weighed in on the importance of the medium of public art.
“I think public art is something that can help Morehead, not that Morehead needs help, but I think driving by and seeing this mural, it just picks my eye to it, and I think it’s good for everyone to see and incorporates all of our sister cities, plus the banjo of our traditional music here in Morehead Kentucky,” said Middleton.
He said just as the banjo and traditional music have shaped the region over the years, he hopes Morehead’s relationships with its sister cities will continue to be just as, if not more, impactful to the culture and communities of all three regions.