CMS teacher, former student team up to paint Charlotte mural

Charlotte, N.C. — A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools teacher and his one-time student are reuniting to work on a mural together.

Brian Hester is a visual arts instructor at Myers Park High School. John Hairston Jr., a professor of illustration at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, was once Hester's student.

These days, they find themselves collaborating on a wall outside of Claiborne Prosthetics and Orthotics. Their goal is to create a mural highlighting the hope and possibilities for those with physical disabilities.

"Characteristically, we were trying to emulate a lot of the things that (is done) here in terms of giving people a newness of life after some kind of serious injury or any kind of disability that they may have," said Hester.

For Hester, painting a mural of this size isn't a normal project, but that's where the experience of his former student comes in handy.

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"My comfort zone is to work with John because John has done a lot of murals," said Hester.

Since graduating high school, Hairston has worked on a number of murals that can be found in Midtown and at Camp North End, whether it’s on office buildings, on restaurants, or on CrossFit studios.

"It's a really cool thing that we're here together working on this wall project after knowing Brian Hester for over half my life -- being able to come back together to unify and work on a piece of art together is really neat," said Hairston.

The two artists have found a cohesiveness in working together in this new way.

“It’s no different than John putting information down on this monster canvas and me coming in and going over the top of him and cleaning up,” said Hester. “Most artists would be like, ‘Whoa, don’t touch my stuff,’ but we’re not that way and it works. All those puzzle pieces start to line up.”

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Charlotte Prosthetics Mural (WSOC)

There's still some work to be done before the project is complete.

"Once the scaffolding actually comes down, we'll then get up ladders and John and I will step back and we'll go through ... drop shadows, highlights, making sure directional light sources work and that it's fluid," said Hester.

Already, though, Clay Claiborne, President of Claiborne Prosthetics and Orthotics, is happy with the results.

“I figured it was time to put something together that was a little more positive, a little more uplifting for those people who have disabilities and other people that may be complaining about certain things that are going on in their world,” said Claiborne. “To just drive by and see that maybe their situation isn’t as bad as others.”

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