Garner pins revitalization on the arts

GARNER -- Main Street is getting a mural, and some town leaders hope the project will jump-start a focus on the arts downtown.

The Garner Revitalization Association, a town-funded nonprofit group, is spending $5,000 on a mural that will depict the community's devotion to baseball.

Vincent Wood, a local artist who graduated from Garner High School in 1991, is painting the mural. It will appear on a 9-foot-by-40-foot exterior wall at 404 E. Main St.

Wood's design features a baseball game in which children are trying to catch a home run ball soaring over a fence. With a park and baseball fields nearby, giving the mural a sports theme made sense, said John Hodges, executive director of the association.

"To introduce art to a downtown you're trying to revitalize makes a statement, I think," said Mayor Ronnie Williams.

For years, the town has considered how to breathe life into North Garner and downtown, once a bustling stretch that has been overshadowed by commercial growth along U.S. 70 and U.S. 401.

A revitalization plan calls for the creation of an arts hub anchored by the Garner Historic Auditorium. The new mural is the first step in making cultural arts an economic driver downtown, Hodges said.

"We thought if we can get something people can see, people will start talking about the arts," he said.

Hodges hopes to recruit more arts-related businesses downtown. One, Ceramics in the Buff, a pottery-painting shop, opened in the spring.

Healso wants more public-art projects to crop up. A privately owned warehouse across the railroad tracks from Wood's mural would be ideal for hanging canvas art, he said. A mural could also go on the side of the building at 111 W. Main St., home to the revitalization group, Hodges said. Paintings and sculptures could go on the auditorium campus.

Wood said the mural has special meaning. The Garner native played on the nearby fields as a kid.

And Wood knows a thing or two about painting sports scenes.

Part of his career as a professional artist has focused on sports. He drew sketches for a baseball-card company, and sports fans sometimes hire him to paint their favorite players or teams.

"To finally have something where my hometown can see ... it means a lot," Wood said. "(I) work hard, and I've put a lot of hours in and put in the struggle; it's cool to be recognized by my hometown."