Within a few weeks, all of the exposed walls on the building at 523 13th St. will be completely covered with murals as the final scene — a midcentury gas station — makes its way onto the back wall.
Dennis Skelley has one overall goal for the Georgia Rehabilitation Institute’s 13th Street property.
“The murals, the building, the sculptures. It’s really the notion to have a destination – a must-see destination in Augusta,” said Skelley, GRI’s president and CEO.
A champion for Augusta’s public art effort, Skelley has served on multiple public art panels including as vice president of public art for the Greater Augusta Arts Council, winning the council’s president’s award in 2018. And when it comes to GRI’s building, which houses The 523 Gallery, and its grounds, it’s all about art, from top to bottom and inside and out.
GRI has occupied the space since 2013. The first pieces of artwork on the grounds included several sculptures created by artist Tommy Lyles and Skelley.
“We made a little pocket park to incentivize other businesses to maybe do something with their property, either landscape them or ad art,” he said.
The pocket park features tables and benches, and people often stop and sit to take in the art. Some bring their lunch to the haven in the urban setting.
Then came Brian Stewart’s murals. The first is the “Love Where You Live Augusta” mural, a highly photographed piece of art often used in promotional materials for area businesses or influencer selfies.
In 2022, a mural on the front featuring Vincent Van Gogh was designed with selfie-taking in mind.
The back portion of the building has co-joining walls with the gas station on the one wall and a streetscape on the other one.
“He wanted a bus stop with people on a park bench waiting,” said Stewart. “This is a gallery, so I said, ‘Let’s do something more arts oriented.”
That portion of the wall features a who’s who of art masters including Michelangelo carving David, Monet painting a fountain and DaVinci tattooing a famous mouse on his creator’s arm.
The final mural has a 1950s-esque Americana vibe with a gas station paying tribute to Skelly (with a different spelling than Dennis’s last name) Oil, a Tulsa, Oklahoma-based oil company that went out of business in 1977.
Floyd the Barber from “The Andy Griffith Show” sits outside and a boy drinks a Coca-Cola. Stewart will paint a 1957 Chevy in the garage.
Skelley said he plans to have an event in the fall to celebrate the new murals, but he hopes people will come from all over and stop to see it.
“When you come to Augusta a must see, completely wrapped in meaningful murals, fun to take time to watch,” the advertising could read, according to Skelley.
Inside the gallery are works created by artists with disabilities.
Before becoming the head of GRI, Skelley helped build Walton Rehabilitation Hospital and served as its president for three decades. Some of the pieces in the gallery once hung on the hospital walls.
“We decided to use local artist in decorate the public areas of the hospital. If they were disabled that was even better,” he said.
He also sought out works by artists with disabilities.
When the hospital was sold, the art works moved to the gallery and people can stop by from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday to take a free tour.
The gallery building isn’t the only public art funded by GRI. Multiple sculptures throughout the city have been created thanks to GRI funding. Accessibility to art is important to Skelley and GRI, and public spaces offer that.
Some GRI-funded sculptures include Dragon Fly, Chompy the Alligator, Heron Duet, and Fish School, all at Phinizy Swamp, Pillars of the Golden Blocks Sculpture, the Spider lily, Iris and Tropical Dream Sculptures. To learn more, go here.
And more sculptures are on the way including some hydrangeas for Pendleton King Park and a sculpture near the Kroc Center.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards and is the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
