West Columbia’s mill history to be on display in huge new mural by Nashville artist
As a new apartment and mixed-use development takes shape in West Columbia, the area’s history will be memorialized in a prominent new mural.
Bob and Matt Mundy of Estates & Companies, a Columbia-based real estate developer, remembered Nashville artist Brian Tull from a painting they saw in Asheville, N.C., several years ago. Tull’s style made an impression, and an idea for a mural in West Columbia popped into their heads, the company said in a news release.
The Mundys had a vision for the mural: a piece of art that showed the history and identity of West Columbia, and its vision for the future. They shared the history of the area, and Tull, a Nashville-based artist, took it a step further.
The mural will be located on the north facing facade at 4West, an under-construction mixed-use development in West Columbia, facing the State Street entrance of the plaza in between Brookland Apartments and 4West.
According to the press release, the mural will depict the “roots, history, and what built Brookland, SC.” West Columbia was originally named Brookland, before the post office changed it to New Brookland. In 1936, the name was changed to West Columbia.
The artist said he relied on the Mundys’ knowledge of the history of the area and used those ideas to develop his vision for the mural.
Mill workers, mills, mill houses, churches, fire stations and depictions of the river will be featured in the 30-foot by 29-foot mural. The mural will be completed in phases throughout the late spring and summer.
Lauren McGarrigle, Estate & Companies’ director of marketing, estimates the mural will be completed in late July or early August.
Tull worked with illustrator Steve Thomas to design the art. The finished mural will feature a female figure standing “tall and proud, her gaze and wonder hopefully inspiring another generation in forward thinking and moving West Columbia,” the press release said.
