Jon Murrill partnered with Dixie Building Products to bring two vibrant murals to Melrose.
From murals to sculptures, public art has exploded in Roanoke over the past few years. While much of it has been installed downtown, artists and arts organizations are beginning to take their talents into neighborhoods, including Jon Murrill, who recently completed two partnering murals on Melrose Avenue.
Murrill was approached by Lolly Quigley, business manager for Dixie Building Products, while working on his greenway murals last summer. “She expressed their interest in bringing public art to the Melrose area and refreshing their building,” which has been open since 1959, he says.
It was a combination of bringing the Dixie team’s inspiring vision for the area to life and the challenge of taking on such a large-scale project that prompted Murrill to get involved.
Much of his work focuses on encompassing characteristics of the community that bring joy and spread positivity, and the murals on Melrose are no exception.
The first depicts two children sitting around a campfire. “I found much of my inspiration in the diversity of the community on Melrose, and wanted to represent that diversity through a figurative mural,” explains Murrill. “Fires have always been community [gathering] spaces for sharing ideas. The sparks and embers in the painting represent the children and the thoughts and dreams they are sharing with each other.”
He also drew from Roanoke’s striking natural scenery, specifically the Blue Ridge Mountains, which make an appearance in both murals.
The Melrose community’s enthusiasm served as a great motivator while Murrill worked through the hot summer months. “I had so many individuals stop by and express their excitement over bringing public art to their neighborhood,” he says. “Bringing public art to an area which has none is such an inspirational part of being a local artist.”
The response to this project is just one example of how public art is being embraced throughout the region, and Murrill is calling on other artists and businesses to pitch in to bring artwork into other underserved areas.
“It is not just the downtown area that needs and appreciates our work,” says Murrill. “Many of our neighborhoods and subcultures in Roanoke have a great appreciation for the arts, and I hope that my project on Melrose will not only bring joy to that neighborhood, but also spark more interest in public art in that area for future artists to join in.”
