“So all you have to do is just shake that thing up first. Shake it up nice and good.”
“And then you want to be nice and close to the wall as you spray. So just like that, just like that. You want to push down a little bit harder. Yeah, maybe use two hands. ‘Yeah, probably, yeah.’ There you go. Cover all the white. Just like that. You’re doing a great job.”
Kennedy agrees.
“It was good. I really liked it. I kind of am an artist. I'm great. Painting people, like drawing people. That's really my talent.”
That’s just one of Ramirez’s talents. A jury panel organized by the Josephine Sculpture Park arts group picked the Chicago artist from among more than 60 others to paint a nearly 1800-square foot side of VFW Post 40-75 in Frankfort. The mural is part of a 50-thousand dollar art package that will include 10 to 12 sculptures on display around the city for the next two years. Half of that money came from the National Endowment for the Arts; the other half from the City of Frankfort.
Ramirez and friend-slash-assistant Antonio Gomez drove down Friday and beginning the next day, painted pretty much from sunrise to sunset. Last Wednesday afternoon, on what was dubbed Community Paint Day, they had some help.
“By just, you know, allowing people to kind of come in and actually help paint the mural, but these little sectioned off pieces, you know, it creates you know, that it shares that much more ownership with the mural besides me just going in and doing it.”
‘Did you have to say to anyone, whoa, not there?’
“No, everyone's pretty good. Maybe some kids that, you know, that obviously are just going to be kids. But, you know, everyone was really enthusiastic and took it pretty seriously. It was awesome.”
That’s how VFW Commander Daryl Casey describes his time at the wheel a bit earlier.
“They did an excellent job and kind of telling showing you how to do it, and then they kind of cut you loose and let you let you paint your little piece.” ‘Did you get yelled at any?’ “Not a bit. Not a bit. No, I've been in service for 33 years. I knew how to follow orders.”
The mural features a large painting of Anna Mac Charles, a Lawrenceburg native who, during World War II, was the first African American to command a Womens’ Army Corps unit.
“And then you go to the left, there's more like silhouettes that kind of represent diversity and like how unique we are as individuals. But, you know, ultimately, we all kind of, as a mural looks very geometric and very mosaic, like, everybody kind of plays their own part to make the entire picture.”
‘What's the 1964 for?’
“The 1964 is for the march that Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement kind of came through here and actually marched in Frankfort.”
There’s also an American flag, a silhouette of a serviceman’s face, and much more. By late afternoon, all that remains is for Ramirez to hand-paint the Veterans of Foreign Wars logo. Casey says it’s “absolutely beautiful” – and a colorful history lesson.
“I answered a question, ‘What’s the VFW? What does the VFW do?’ And, you know, for me as a veteran to be able to share that with these children – they may have a little different appreciation for not just the VFW, but for veterans in general.”
One of the last volunteers of the 80 or volunteers is a public radio reporter with little to no painting skill.
“You want to go there you go a little bit closer. Don't shy away from the wall. Just like that. Don't worry about drifts. Because that just means that there's enough paint on the surface, you know? There you go.”
“My first mural.”
“Your very first contribution to a mural.”
‘Yes, contribution, not an entire mural. Good point.’
Or, as Kennedy Byrd said before the reporter began spraying …
“It looks like it's a masterpiece.” Giggles.
I’m John McGary, in Frankfort.
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