By Ashley Perham
For HDMedia
Creatures straight from the imagination of some of Charleston’s youngest residents will soon take shape at Legal Aid’s new headquarters in the Elk City area of Charleston’s West Side.
Thursday evening, seven young artists, ages 4 to 7, designed a character that will be painted into a mural at Legal Aid, 123 Washington St. W.
Jeff Pierson, director of Charleston’s office of Public Art, said he started with a few drawing games to gauge the art style of the children before pairing them with a professional artist. The artists, including Pierson, worked with the children to flesh out their drawings of vibrant, approachable characters.
“For example, there is a shark, but he is not a mean shark,” Pierson said. “He’s maybe a little bit angry, but he is not mean.”
In the next month, the artists will paint the characters into a mural — just as the children designed them but about three times bigger. Pierson said he’d like to have the mural completed by the end of March.
He added that the reason he looked for children ages 4-7 was because around third grade, children start to question their skills.
“We were trying to really get the kids [who] still have that raw sense of imagination without the burden of [self-consciousness],” Pierson said.
Wesley Eary, one of the participating muralists, was paired with his son, Henry Hatfield-Eary, 6. Henry drew a many-eyed monster he named Bob.
“He did awesome, he went right off with it, to be honest,” Eary said. “This is our first official collab and the best one yet.”
“He likes me,” Henry said of his monster, Bob.
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