You Build Our Community

A Mural Project CelebratingEssential Workers In Burke

This mural, designed by artist Ian Brownlee, serves as an homage to Essential Workers, honoring the many ways they support us in our most vulnerable moments. Through community input, the scope of the design was refined to focus on first responders, medical professionals, and educators within our area.

At the heart of the piece, a quilt of vibrant colors flows across the wall, symbolizing connection, resilience, and care. Woven into this quilt are representations of local individuals whose service embodies these roles: Carol Largent Ervin, Izabela Pablo Pedro Peeler, Keith Bowman, Ashleigh Taylor, and Josh Benfield. The mural also draws upon the voices and experiences of community members, shaped in part through interviews with Adam Rawl, Georgina Mora, Daniel Gutierrez, Cecilia Jimenez, and Sharley Mendoza.

Brownlee hopes that this work will foster a sense of pride and shared ownership among residents. As its title conveys, the mural stands as a lasting tribute that “honors the workers who help our community thrive.”

The Industrial Commons

Design by Ian Brownlee

Ribbon Cutting at the mural with artists, models, steering committee members, supporters, and residents in Morganton.

Artists

The Steering Committee

  • Angie Valmassoi

  • Daniel McCurry

  • Debbie Sigmon

  • Jorge Trevino

  • Keith Bowman

Process

Community Mural Institute’s Process

  • Scouting | Identifying the Stories and Sites

  • Nominating | Identifying the Community Group (small group of 3-5 people to make key decisions for the project) and artists

  • Listening Sessions | The artists and CMI team lead the workshop, engaging our community in conversation and activities to solicit ideas for the theme and content of the mural. These sessions typically last 2 hours. 

  • Designing | The community input guides the muralists, who creates the design. The mural design is done by the artists and CMI team, who have years of experience translating complex and nuanced ideas into visual images that work well as a mural.

  • Painting | Once the mural design is approved by the project coordinators and design approval committee, it is projected onto specially prepared mural fabric, creating a giant paint-by-numbers. 

  • Paint Parties | The mural paint parties are free and open to all. People can paint for as little or as long and they want and no experience is necessary.  

  • Installation | The muralists then do the detail work and overpainting in the studio, before installing the mural permanently on the wall.

  • Ribbon Cutting | When the mural is complete, we all come together one last time for a ribbon cutting. We give thanks, take pictures, and celebrate what we all created together.