Haywood Street Fresco

I was fortunate to work at UNCA, with some great local educators this last week on the Haywood Street Fresco Project.  We gathered for a week to create lessons and content around the (pretty amazing) fresco at the Haywood Street Congregation in downtown Asheville.  This fresco was created by Christopher Holt in September 2019 and is one of very few examples surviving of this Italian Renaissance technique of "painting with plaster."  Based on the beatitudes, but using local Asheville people and landmarks - this fresco was created to bring life to idea that a community must be judged by how it treats its most disadvantaged citizens.

Wake Forest University recently completed and excellent documentary on the fresco that you can watch here.

I am proud of our work and feel like we have created a fantastic framework for local educators to use in an effort to explore the history of Asheville and how art can help explain and push our community to new levels of understanding.  

In addition, I am always grateful for the chance to work with other teachers in any type of professional setting.  I always come away inspired and fired up to be a better teacher, and this experience was just what the doctor ordered.  If you get the chance, go by Haywood Street and see this fresco!