The Magic of Reading

The Corbin Public Library is now home to a mural that embodies the joy and knowledge of reading.

Artist Lacy Hale was contacted about the project at the end of 2019. The library was familiar with Hale’s work through Moonbow Art Gallery owner Sky Marietta. After beginning work on the design, Hale hoped to install the mural in 2020, but COVID delayed the project.

“I sent them my sketch, and we agreed on it,” said Hale. “It was supposed to happen last year, but with COVID, it was kind of put off.”

The pandemic, though it delayed installation, was not able to stall the project completely.

Hale created the subject of the mural on Polytab, which allows part of the artwork to be completed offsite and then attached to the wall similar to wallpaper.

Hale said that she learned about the technique in 2019 when a group came to Harlan for the Mountain Mural Mega Fest.

Polytab cuts down the time when you are onsite and allows pieces to be painted indoors, said Hale.

The subject is near and dear to Hale’s heart since her nephew, Raphael, was the inspiration.

“They wanted something with a train in it and obviously books because it is the library,” said Hale. “I started thinking about my nephew Raphael, who loves to read, and it gave me the idea of doing the mural of him realistically reading a book, and I mean realistically as in portraying him realistically, and then all around him is kind of like a child-like drawing, almost like he is imagining what he is reading.”

Hale said she has never seen a four-and-a-half-year-old who loves to read as much as her nephew.

“I just thought he was the perfect ‘model’,” said Hale.

In the mural, Raphael is reading from a book and the images of what he is reading are depicted around him.

His finger is illuminating the page to represent the knowledge that is gained from reading, said Hale.

The images surrounding Raphael were painted directly onto the wall. Hale said the mural is permanent and took three days to complete.

The mural, tentatively named “The Magic of Reading,” was finished on Thursday, said Hale.

“Lacy’s mural is the perfect finishing touch to the library’s renovation project. I am so thankful for all the people and businesses that made the mural possible, especially Sandi Curd,” said Donna Chadwell, director of the Corbin Public Library.

In a press release by Sandi Curd, “The Corbin Art Fund covered the artist’s labor while other expenses were not. Corbin businesses came to the rescue with Sherwin Williams of Corbin donating the primer paint. The Bryant family of WD Bryant True Value donated the mural paint, the Cloud family of CC&M provided the scissor lift, and Friends of the Library purchased the overcoat sealer.  Also, the Miller family donated the mural fabric, the Marietta family provided lodging, and the Curd family picked up all other expenses.”

The names of the donors are hidden within the mural.

The artist

Hale is well known throughout Eastern Kentucky for her designs and artwork, including the ‘No Hate in My Holler’ social enterprise project in 2017. The design was created in response to Neo-Nazi groups that were going to Floyd and Pike counties to recruit, said Hale on her Etsy store “lacyface”.

Around the same time that the ‘No Hate in My Holler’ project took off, Hale began her career as a professional full-time artist. 

Hale said that about four years ago she was let go from her previous position while the company was going through a transition period. Hale took that opportunity to pursue what she loved full time.

“I went for it. It has been a slow build up,” said Hale. “Through the years I have kind of tried to build my name up.”

“[After ‘No Hate in My Holler’,] I figured it was a good time because I was starting to make a name for myself,” said Hale. “I don’t know if it was a stroke of luck or what because I was let go of that job and I was like ‘Aw man, this sucks. What am I going to do?’ but it ended up being good luck.”

Hale has been around art her entire life. Art runs in her family. Her father was very musical as are her sister and brother. Her other brother, Johnathan Hale, the father of Raphael, has served as a professor at Eastern Kentucky University and Northern Kentucky University.

“We came by it honest,” said Hale. “My parents never discouraged us from doing anything creative.”

Hale said that she knew she wanted to be an artist since she was five years old.

“When I was five years old, I did a drawing for the gingerbread festival that won [the kindergarten blue ribbon],” said Hale. “At that point, I was like ‘this is fun, and apparently, I am good at it’.”

The first major work she completed was a mural in her hometown.

“My dad passed away in 2008 and so I wanted to do a mural in my hometown that kind of honored him and I wanted to include him in it, but I ended up not, it’s like a mural of the artistic heritage of Knott county where I grew up,” said Hale. “I couldn’t figure out how to realistically, because a lot of people didn’t know him necessarily as a guitar player, but I did that one for my community in honor of my dad’s memory even though it didn’t include him in it.”

That mural was completed in 2010.

When designing a project, Hale said inspiration most often comes when she is not thinking about the project.

“Whenever I am not thinking about something, is when something seems to pop into my head.”

One of her favorite pieces was inspired by a dream.

In her dream, she saw herself rising up and floating above the mountains in Whitesburg where she lives. When she woke up, she knew that she had to paint the scene.

“That piece is probably one that I am most proud of because it wasn’t drawn directly from a photograph,” said Hale. “It was part dream, it’s kind of surreal, it was just like you could see the bottom half of my calves and my feet kind of floating in the air.”

Hale has artwork and murals across central and eastern Kentucky, including Lexington, Harlan, and Whitesburg, according to Curd’s press release.

“A lot of my work, and I think with a lot of artists, to really feel like you are doing something special it has to have some sort of meaning to you,” added Hale.