New public art in downtown Rock Hill will honor, perhaps, the artist who did it best
If Rock Hill wants to paint the city, there’s one character it only makes sense to include. An artist with deep ties to the city, but whose work is known well beyond it.
“As we considered the growth of Rock Hill’s Mural Mile, it was important to create a piece of art that paid tribute to our city’s most famous artist,” said Allan Miller, WRHI managing partner and Christmasville board member. “It is exciting to celebrate our community’s two largest festivals and showcase the impact of Vernon Grant through this new, visual collaboration.”
Mural Mile is an effort to install about 10 murals on various city buildings or streets. Murals are within a mile of the downtown and textile corridors. The more than half dozen to date include range from the “Dreamer” scene on the McFadden Building to the Sunset Park basketball court, “No Room for Racism” depiction on West White Street and “Rock Hill for All” near East Main and Caldwell streets.
A new mural celebrates Vernon Grant. The nationally known illustrator, creator of the SNAP! CRACKLE! AND POP! characters used by Kellogg’s, was a Nebraska native but moved to Rock Hill after World War II. Grant farmed and continued his art, and became a civic leader. Grant co-founded the popular Come-See-Me festival that runs each spring and the ChristmasVille holiday festival celebrates his work.
The Vernon Grant mural will be on one side of the York County Library at 138 E. Black St. When complete, it will be the largest mural in York County.
Grant died in 1990 after more than 40 years living in Rock Hill. Grant’s designs graced numerous magazine covers and advertising campaigns, and influenced the art of Walt Disney and Dr. Suess.
New York art restorer and illustrator Jill Pratzon designed the new Vernon Grant mural, which is inspired by Grant’s illustrations. Muralist Osiris Rain, who completed the mural on West White Street warehouses two years ago, will paint the mural.
The mural will feature Glen the Frog, Christmasville’s Santa and popular Vernon Grant gnomes. There’s also a mosaic “selfie” area.
“Creating these scenes has deepened my respect for Vernon;s artistry, and working with the folks in Rock Hill has been a pleasure,” Pratzon said. “I feel fortunate that I was able to escape into a world of humor and whimsy for the past few months. What could be better than that?”
Contributions from ChristmasVille and Come-See-Me festivals helped fund the mural, as did others from the Vernon Grant Family Foundation and a National Endowment for the Arts grant through the York County library system.
The mural should be complete by mid-October. It will be dedicated during ChristmasVille, held Dec. 1-4.
