Artist: David Gerhard
Center for Educational Equity Woodcut Mural
GJ: How were you contacted to create this piece?
DG: I had an art studio on Lois Ave. in Greenville for a few years. As a member of the community, I was contacted to do a mural and had the bright idea to do a giant woodcut. This is possibly the largest woodcut in the state at 16-by-16 feet.
GJ: What is the inspiration for this piece?
DG: The neighborhood inspired the work. I wanted to honor the people who have lived in this community for years. The kids run in the streets in training for the Center for Educational Equity. They do their homework and then train as boxers. It’s a great place with fantastic people. I included a boy loosely inspired from a historic photo from the Greenville Library’s bookmobile. I wanted this to reinforce the message that discipline and reading will take you to success.
GJ: What type of materials did you use to create the mural?
DG: It’s a woodcut printed on billboard quality vinyl. I carved the wood then hand-printed it onto the vinyl using the highest quality printmaking ink.
GJ: How long did it take to create and what was the creation process like?
DG: This was a labor of love. From start to finish, it took about two years and included at least eight weeks of full-time work where I worked with the CEE students.
I incorporated this project into my work with students at all levels. I taught Foundations of Art all of the CEE students that summer and some of the students helped me with a few steps of the process. I was also teaching at Furman University when I started this and had some of my university drawing students help transfer my original sketch onto the large wood panels. I finished up the drawing process while involving the CEE younger students, who helped me fill in the big black areas on the wood.
Once the image was drawn on the wood blocks I had to carve it. I did this with some of the Clemson University students. I was teaching a printmaking class that summer and a few helped. I also received help from Naomi Nakazato, a student of mine at Anderson University, who I recommended as a Brandon Fellow that summer after our work together.
The older CEE students helped carve the woodcut with me as well. I would lug the huge heavy MDF wooden blocks to their building. We would work for an hour or two, then I would drive them down the road to my studio, and later to my new studio at The Printshop, which has since closed down and is now a roasting warehouse for Methodical Coffee. There I would work on carving the blocks for another six hours or so. It was grueling.
Finally, once the blocks were all carved, I proof printed them at Furman University because their printing press was large enough. Then I printed the mural on a single sheet of vinyl by hand. There was a lot of experimenting to get a good print. It was the most technically challenging work I’ve ever made. Then I added ink on top by hand to reinforce some sections. The print then had to air out.
Luckily, I was a part of the SC Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities faculty exhibition, so I had the wet print off-gassing on the Lipscomb Gallery floor for a month. It was installed on the side of the CEE building on Pendleton Street soon after.
There were so many people in the community who helped with this project. It was funded in part by a Metropolitan Arts Council grant and an Art in Public Places grant along with a grant from the Graham Foundation. We were also supported with donations of vinyl from 360 Digital Media in Greenville, ink from Gamblin Ink Manufacturer and installation from Gimme-A-Sign. I appreciated working alongside CEE CEO Shakir Robinson and Rep. Leola Robinson, along with the Teen After-School Center led by Harriet Cunningham. I am so grateful to all involved. I couldn’t have done all of this without them.
GJ: What is your favorite part of the piece and why?
DG: Honestly the process was my favorite part, but if I had to choose a part you can see, it would be the boy’s face and the boxer’s back. They were both turning points for me as an artist. I learned new things while working on these two sections.
GJ: When was it completed?
DG: November 2015
It is located on the side of the Center for Education Equity at 1191 Pendleton St. in Greenville.
