Alex Bugg recently traveled from Denver to Augusta to help bring more color to the 5th Street Freedom Pedestrian Bridge.
Bugg was one of about 40 artists, most of whom live and work in the CSRA, who participated in a project to paint murals on the bridge’s walls. On Saturday, the Greater Augusta Arts Council unveiled the murals by hosting the 5th Street Mural Festival, which included a ribbon cutting, food trucks, and music from DJs Coco Rubio and Matt Porter.
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“As you see, I didn’t go in with much of a theme,” Bugg said. “I really like drawing female portraits, and I love drawing wavy hair, like kind of surreal, so I used that as my base. I designed this with the dimensions in mind, and I’ve never worked on such a long canvas, so I tried to utilize the space well.”
She said it took her three hours to design her mural on an iPad and 20-30 hours over three or four days to paint it. Bugg attended film school, which she said is closely related to art.
“I’m an animator as well, and I’ve only really gotten into painting in the last five or six years,” Bugg said. “But I’ve really been enjoying it. I like to take digital techniques and animation to help me make traditional art like this.”
Heather Dunaway, the Arts Council’s marketing and outreach specialist and gallery director, said they had wanted to bring more murals to Augusta for a while. Dunaway said the project was funded by a $60,000 grant from the Porter Fleming Foundation. That grant covered a variety of costs, including paint and stipends for the artists.
“If you go to bigger cities like Atlanta and Savannah, they have mural festivals pretty regularly, and we wanted to see that happen here in Augusta,” she said. “Then, we put (a) national call out to look for artists, and we had so many apply. It was really just a snowball from there.”
Dunaway said more than 200 artists nationwide applied to participate in the project. She said in the future, they hope to expand it by bringing murals to more locations throughout Augusta.
“I think the idea behind it is we want to paint Augusta,” Dunaway said. “We want to see a lot more color, a lot more accessible art, a lot more public art.”
Aiken artists Tyler Richardson and A.C. Daniel worked together to create a mural of magnolias and gingko leaves.
“In the last two years, I’ve done about four, and this is my fifth one,” Richardson said. “After this, I would say I’m a muralist.”
He said it took them about three or four days to complete their mural. Richardson particularly enjoyed studying and painting magnolias.
“The most tedious part was the gingko leaves because they’re just line work. You didn’t want them to look too shaky. You wanted them to look clean.”
Daniel said he and Richardson finished the mural much faster than they usually do.
“It was empowering,” he said. “We finished ahead of time. I’m not as tight about painting. I just let it happen now. The day we finished this one, I got some other commissions I’m excited about.”
Other artists who participated in the project included Cole Phail, Jason Craig, Rhian Swain, and Theron Cartwright.
