8 BLACK INK October 19, 1976
Murals may be destroyed
Sien4.
ScUt^
Durham citizens
unite to
mave murals
There are few widely known
manifestations of Black art in
Piedmont North Carolina. One of
these few, a three-piece set of
murals by William O’Farrow, is
in danger of being demolished
along with the Do Your Own
Thing Theatre in Durham in
which it is housed.
An auction and benefit dance
were held Saturday, October 16 at
the YWCA in Durham in an effort
to raise funds to save at least two
of the murals. Both functions
were sponsored by the People’s
Alliance and the Advisory
Committee to Save the Murals,
organizations of concerned
citizens and artists.
The murals, completed in 1970,
were the culmination of a two
year planning and painting
process. Due to lack of materials
and money, O’Farrow used one
extension ladder, one palette and
latex and acrylic paints.
"He would fill his palette, climb
to the top of the fully extended
ladder, balance himself against
the wall, paint for ten minutes and
back down the ladder. He would
look at what he had done, refill his
palette and begin the process
again,” said Shirley McConahay,
vice president of the Durham Arts
Guild.
The murals include depictions
of Black workers stretching
between Africa and America, a
medley of Black nationalist
leaders and a dancer. If all three
murals cannot be saved, the
painting of the dancer will be left
behind when the others are moved
to the new site.
“We feel it has the least
political merit. We are hoping to
move them to a community
center. A Muslim center in New
York is interested, but we would
like to keep them in the Durham
area. We will consider a public
school last,” said Sam Green, a
member of the Advisory
Committee to Save the Murals
and a UNC student.
Estimates for the dismantling,
moving, and restoration of the 30-
feet high murals range from four
to eight thousand dollars,
depending on the amount of
technical consultation needed.
But a committee of art
consultants, including a UNC
professor, agree that the murals
are artistically and historically
important enought to be saved.
Artists interested in aiding in
the restoration process may
contact Shirley McConahay at
286-1364 or William O’Farrow at
682-2665 in Durham or Barvara
Tyroler at 942-1233 or Larry
Bostian at 942-7376 in Chapel Hill.
Others are urged to send
donations, care of Black Ink,
Suite B Carolina Union.
Evolution
of an artist
Durham has nurtured only two
Black muralists, William
O’Farrow and Ernest Barns.
When Barns left his mother city to
explore the opportunities of the
North, O’Farrow was slipped into
the ominous position of being
Durham’s only Black muralist.
His interest in painting the
three murals, presently located at
the Do Your Own Thing Theatre,
began in 1969, during the closing
years of the Black nationalist
movement.
“O’Farrow, caught up with the
issues and concerns of his day,
tried to portray what the young
Blacks were feeling . . . protest,
awakening of consciousness,
black history and identity,” said
Shirley McConahay, vice
president of the Durham Arts
Council.
After finishing the murals,
O’Farrow found the income from
his work too inadequate to
support a wife and expected child.
He became a 7th grade arts
teacher at Brogden Jr. High
School. The paintings carte more
slowly.
In June, the People’s Alliance, a
concerned citizens’ group,
sponsored a potluck dinner so that
local artists could meet, display,
and discuss their work. O’Farrow
went, and it was there that the
mural demolition plans were
publicly discussed.
*Villiam O’Farrow has evolved
as an artist and a pictorial
historian of the Black American
evolution. In 50 years, our
grandchildren may be searching
to unearth the same history of
emotions that are depicted in his
mui als.
The People’s Alliance and the
Advisory Committee to Save the
Murals have organized to save
William O’Farrow’s murals in
Durham. The mural of the dancer
(center) will probably not be among
those salvaged.