Church made out of lids found at a local Methodist Church

CURRENT PROJECT – VAN GOGH on KING STREET!

Redbrick Gallery

The Owner of Red Brick Gallery in Martinsburg volunteered the outside wall of her gallery for a “Put A Lid On It” mural.  The photos below are of the proposed mural to be created all out of upcycled plastic bottle lids.  This will be a challenging piece to create but I am confident that we will do the original self-portrait, painted by Vincent Van Gogh, justice.

     You may be wondering why I picked a work of art by this artist to reproduce?  You may be surprised by my answer.  You may think that it is simply because I like this artist best, but this isn’t quite right.  The reason is because for some odd reason, one that only God and the stars know the answer to, the last living relative of Van Gogh supposedly lived in this area many years back.  The story that was told to me, that i am trying to verify (and I hope that this piece will help draw people out that have the answer to) is that he taught golf at the nearby golf courses.  Part of this story is that he moved back to Europe many years ago, but that there are still people around that could verify this information.

     If you have any information or know anyone that might be able to help verify this story please contact me, or have them contact me.  THANKS!

To the king of Art! 

Red Brick Gallery in Martinsburg with the sketch of the next Put A Lid On It mural

Red Brick Gallery on King Street in Martinsburg West Virginia with the proposed mural in place

Martinsburg has a new mural

Martinsburg West Virginia has a new mural on King Street at Red Brick Gallery.  Upclose it is a huge collection of plastic bottle lids of all varieties, but from across the street it is a rendition of Vincent Van Gogh’s most famous self portrait with his ear bandage.  Friday (Tomorrow) the 10th of July is the ribbon cutting and unveiling ceremony for this massive mural come check it out at 11am!

Taa Daa!

Van Gogh made it to Martinsburg West Virginia.  See it here first!

Putting the final touches to the Van Gogh mural

David Heatwole announces Masterpiece Art Kits

Now that the VanGogh mural at Redbrick Gallery and the giant flower at the Berkeley County/Martinsburg Library have been completed Heatwole announces Masterpiece Art kits for sale to schools, and community groups to create for their community.  If you are interested please visit http://www.masterpieceartkits.com and call 304)283-1902 for details.

Another Article about the VanGogh Mural coming down

http://www.herald-mail.com/news/local/hm-williamsport-community-meal-pa-christmas-pa-002,0,5732849.photo

photo from Herald Mail regarding take down of VanGogh Mural

http://www.herald-mail.com/news/local/hm-williamsport-community-meal-pa-christmas-pa-002,0,5732849.photo

Article from Herald Mail about VanGogh mural coming down

http://www.herald-mail.com/news/local/hm-williamsport-community-meal-pa-christmas-pa-001,0,5667312.photo

Short article discovered in Charleston Daily Mail

DAVID Heatwole, an artist in Martinsburg, is doing his part to recycle. Two summers ago, Heatwole began a mural outside the Redbrick Gallery. Instead of paint, he used lids and bottle caps.

In no time, the town had a conversation piece — a depiction of a self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh. A split vote by the Martinsburg Historic Preservation Review Commission allowed the mural to stand.

But time and weather took the bright colors out of mural and Heatwole took his artwork down.

The lids, bottle caps and outdoor-grade particle board were headed for the landfill until Paul

Yandura, an art collector in Washington, D.C., said he wanted the piece. The recycled caps and lids will be recycled again.

Recycling works only if the recycled material is worth something. Heatwole may be on to something.

Thanks for your support

I would like to thank so many individuals, groups and organizations who have seen the value of the “Put a lid on it” projects.  The last mural that I oversaw the creation of was the VanGogh mural located on the side of Red Brick Gallery in Martinsburg, WV.  That was created just over a year ago and I am pleased that people are still motivated to collect the lids for the purpose of upcycling and creating works of art to beautify our community.

I just wanted to put a thank you out there especially to Tomahawk Presbyterian Church in Berkeley County, WV for working together to save lids.

I will let everyone know when I start another one.

Currently Mussleman High School in Inwood West Virginia is collecting lids for two murals (Masterpiece Art Kits www.masterpieceartkits.com) that they are going to work on starting January 2011 for installation in the cafeteria.

Trying something new with advice from California artist

I have been inspired!  I am so excited to share that I am trying something new to make the lid murals more “eco-friendly” and maybe more “eco”-nomic!  Recently, I stumbled on the work of California artist Linda Merica who works with recycled paper in various ways.  She uses recycled paper, or paper mache for a variety of thing but what really inspired is that she does custom floors whereas the paper is made to look like flag stones.  She also make counter tops that look great!  This is what got my mind wandering and wondering about the paper being a good binder for my upcycled lid murals.  For any of you that might be interested in trying to make a floor or something out of recycled paper she has a book for sale on her website for only $9 bucks.  Check it out at http://www.papertostone.com/

Mural stands up to snow and Ice!

Close vote at Historical Commission

Tonight I had to stand before The City of Martinsburg Historic Preservation Review Commission to request an extension on the time allowed for the VanGogh mural to hang at Redbrick Gallery.  The last meeting 6 months ago when I asked for permission to do the installation received a unanimous vote for the mural – because this mural is temporary.   Tonight was a little different.  The score was 3 to 2 for the mural to stay a very close call in my book.  The oppostition was tough in my opinion especially since their arguments, while somewhat valid, were also a little silly.  One Seat Warmer (I do not have her name handy) gave reason after reason why not to do it, but I don’t think that she had anything positive to add.  To bad.

Reprieve for Mural – Journal news