Hamilton Glass doesn’t like the term, “coffee table book,” even though he knows his newly published tome on the Mending Walls mural project will be so designated. “It’s a conversation and coffee table book,” says the Richmond-based artist and muralist. “It’s a conversation book first and that’s evident when you read through it.”
Mending Walls started as a public art initiative, inspired by the protests that followed George Floyd’s murder in 2020 and the discussions about racial justice that ensued. The city-wide mural project, which paired artists of different backgrounds and races on canvas spaces across Richmond, became the subject of an Emmy-winning PBS documentary, an ongoing podcast, and now this expansive book. “We’re trying to create an ecosystem here,” its founder says, only half-joking.
“Mending Walls: A Healing Art Project,” two years in the making, will officially be released on Friday, May 12 at a special book release signing from 4-7 p.m. in the courtyard outside of ZZQ in Scott’s Addition. Participating mural artists are slated to be there to sign books from 5-6 p.m.
“We wanted it to be the best it could be because it is the representation of the project that will last long after the murals do,” says Ward Tefft, who is publishing the book through his NoHow Books imprint. The 180-page tome will feature details about all of the participating artists — including the likes of Ed Trask, Jowarnise Caston, Matt Lively, Heide Trepanier and Glass himself — and offer special QR codes that link to supplementary material about the works and collaborations. The retail price is $35.00.
There are two other events related to the release: The Book Bar, 1311 E. Main in Shockoe Bottom will host a “Hamilton Glass Birthday Screening” of “Mending Walls The documentary” on May 26 — pre orders can be picked up there — and Glass and co-editor and official photographer for the book, Katrina Taggart-Hecksher, will sign copies at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts on June 23.
“We set it up so that it wasn’t just the origin story of year one of Mending Walls, but something that would help keep the conversation going,” says Taggart-Hecksher, who helped to design the book with fellow editor Sara Marsden and took “90%” [says Glass] of the photographs of the murals. “It’s through her lens that the book is revealed,” he says.
Glass and Taggart-Hecksher put the book together nearly two years ago — pre-orders were announced before they even knew what they were doing, Glass admits — but he says that the original first draft was lacking something. Tefft, the former owner of Chop Suey Books (now Shelf Life Books) agrees. “They brought me their first draft and while it captured the project, it didn’t quite cohere. Sara Marsden reconceptualized it, not only making the book a great homage but [also] a learning tool.” Echoes Glass: “Sara took it apart and put it back together.”
They were too close to it, Marsden says. “My background has been as a marketer, as a communicator, and my job is to translate what’s going on inside of the world to the public and help them to connect with it,” she says. “Sometimes when you are really in it, like they were, it’s hard to see from the perspective of the audience.” She provided fresh eyes, she says.
The end result, Tefft hopes, is a book that “explores each of the murals, explores the city and helps you learn about each artist in a completely different way. The amount of energy and time that each artist put into their mural, we wanted to convey that intensity as well as the meaning behind it.”
Glass is quick to point out that proceeds from the book will help to fund future initiatives from Mending Walls, now a nonprofit organization. “Once we sell a certain amount, half of the money will go to help us sustain.” The book turned out better than he expected. “What I really want people to get out of it is having more conversations.”
He also wants to get the book into as many schools as possible. “There are so many schools that have used the project in the classrooms, teachers have even brought out the artists to come to classes and we’ve given workshops at VCU and the University of Richmond. We want to get a book into each school library in Richmond and the surrounding counties.”
Sara Marsden says that she’s “interested to see how the book is received and how it moves the conversation forward. The project itself was about two people with different experiences coming together and having a conversation … trying to understand each other and creating art that would speak to others. But now another conversation needs to happen, and that’s with the readers of the book.”
“Mending Walls: A Healing Art Project” will hold its book release party at ZZQ, 3201 West Moore, on Friday, May 12 from 4 to 7 p.m. The book will be available at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, World of Mirth, The Valentine, The Black History Museum, The Virginia Museum of History and Culture, Book Bar and Shelf Life Books, among other outlets, or NoHow Books.
For more information on Mending Walls, and to hear episodes of the MW podcast, go to mendingwallsrva.com.
