GALVESTON, Texas (AP) - It’s by chance - some even call it a miracle - that the artist who originally painted a large mural on the north wall of The Grand 1894 Opera House has returned to resurrect the painting.
More than two decades after Sunny DeLipsey painted the playbill-inspired mural, the Dallas-based artist is redoing her work from 1994. The original mural was painted on a surface of slurry that was removed in order stabilize the thick brick walls of the theater during a massive restoration project.
The Galveston County Daily News (https://bit.ly/1S4j2lq ) reports that as a self-described rogue artist, DeLipsey said she was surprised theater organizers were able to track her down.
“I go where the jobs are, and my phone number has changed,” DeLipsey said.
Perhaps more surprising, the original plans for the mural were still intact in the corner of her sister’s garage.
DeLipsey had given them to her father because he loved the mural so much. She has been able to use them to repaint it the second time around. Although it may have been possible to recreate the mural based on photos of the wall, the plans have made the work more accurate, DeLipsey said.
The original mural was an 80th birthday gift for Leonora “Nonie” Kempner Thompson, who is credited with spearheading efforts in the 1970s to revitalize the derelict building. She was the first president of the board of directors for The Grand when it was incorporated in 1986.
In August 2014, workers began repairing brick on the theater’s north wall. Unlike modern construction methods, where one layer of brick is built onto the outside of a structure, the theater walls are five layers thick in some areas, executive director Maureen Patton said. However, the mortar binding the bricks had become dust-like and did little in the way of providing stability, Patton said.
So, as part of a multimillion dollar project, workers put in new mortar while still using the original bricks, Patton said. It’s estimated that about 400,000 bricks are on the north and west walls of the building, Patton said. The theater is working on funding to reconstruct the west wall.
Patton said it was a blessing for DeLipsey to return and paint the mural.
“Sometimes God looks after crazy executive directors and old buildings,” Patton said. “(DeLipsey) really caught the essence of doing a mural that looks like the old posters people put on buildings years ago.”
DeLipsey described painting the many performers at the historic theater as “ghostly.” She still remembers the inspiration for the original mural 22 years ago, which will once again be on the wall of the historic theater.
“I flipped through the old playbills down in the library,” DeLipsey said. “I had chills going down to my hands.”
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This story has been corrected to fix spelling of did in headline.
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Information from: The Galveston County Daily News, https://www.galvnews.com
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