Jason Botkin
A painter on a scissor lift beside a red fish and a magenta face in profile on a long brick wall.
A painter on a scissor lift beside a red fish and a magenta face in profile on a long brick wall.

Projects

Central Theatre

Central Theatre

Central Theatre

2018 · Hot Springs, Arkansas

In 2018, while travelling through the American South, I visited Hot Springs, Arkansas, at the invitation of artist Denae Brisson. During my stay, she introduced me to Christopher Ricks, owner of the historic Central Theatre.

Chris was bringing a long-neglected building back into use. Music, performance, open jams, drag shows, burlesque and community events were finding a very well deserved home there. His work – creating rooms for people to gather.

“What’s your budget?”

“Zero.”

“Can you buy paint?”

He said yes.

We began the next morning.

People begin marking out the bare wall along the parking lot, a truck parked at the far end.
People begin marking out the bare wall along the parking lot, a truck parked at the far end.
People begin marking out the bare wall along the parking lot, a truck parked at the far end.

It was three days into painting that the long wall called.

Right around the corner, the building stretched nearly an entire block along a parking lot and alleyway, with a long, low, and beautifully textured wall – to my eyes, room for many more hands.

“Can you buy more paint?”

We opened the wall to the community.

Ladders and drop cloths along the wall as the first rust-red shapes and dark figures appear.
Ladders and drop cloths along the wall as the first rust-red shapes and dark figures appear.
Ladders and drop cloths along the wall as the first rust-red shapes and dark figures appear.

Chris brought the sound system, picnic tables, shnacks, and unlimited permission for many to play. Children painted alongside retirees. First-timers jamming with old hands.

Legendary graffiti writer Ch3mex (Little Rock) contributed a big section near the front, next to the Paint Shaman. Residents from a nearby halfway house joined hairdressers, musicians, neighbours and curious passersby.

A girl with a long-handled roller paints green and blue waves beneath a golden face.
A girl with a long-handled roller paints green and blue waves beneath a golden face.
A girl with a long-handled roller paints green and blue waves beneath a golden face.

Colour was our shared structure, with sections of the wall following the spectrum of a rainbow, leaving folks free to develop their own images within each area in a monochromatic palatte.

Weaving is the biggest part of what I do here: helping contributors and their contributions find a place alongside one another, offering guidance where wanted, connecting dots, holding whole.

A woman in overalls sits on the asphalt painting a golden fist and orange drips, a sunflower beside her.
A woman in overalls sits on the asphalt painting a golden fist and orange drips, a sunflower beside her.
A woman in overalls sits on the asphalt painting a golden fist and orange drips, a sunflower beside her.

The wall became a place to spend time.

Some came to work, many stayed to talk, and dance, while others painted by parking lot light, collaborating with complete strangers.

For most, it was a first opportunity to paint publicly.

Within months, several participants kept going, completing commissions of their own. Some went on to reshape their working lives around mural painting.

A yellow creature and a jellyfish fill the wall beside a painter working from a red scissor lift.
A yellow creature and a jellyfish fill the wall beside a painter working from a red scissor lift.
A yellow creature and a jellyfish fill the wall beside a painter working from a red scissor lift.

The photographs below hold fragments of what happened there: learning about self in the act of drawing together.

The artwork disappeared.

The experience does not.

Related projects

EN MASSE →

Love Letters to the Great Lakes →

EM × STAT!C →

© Jason Botkin

Contact ↗

Back to top ↑