June 23, 2021
Shown from left to right: Larry Pierce, mural co-creator; Robert Murrell, a digital designer sho worked on the project; and mural co-creator Paul Goodnight. Image by Dominic Chavez. Photo courtesy BNN-TV
A crowd of about 200 people gathered in Grove Hall last Saturday to celebrate the unveiling of “No Strings Detached,” a new mural by veteran artists Paul Goodnight and Larry Pierce that now adorns the side of Breezes Laundromat on Blue Hill Avenue.
The mural, named for its depiction of musicians playing string instruments while others dance, arose through a collaboration between Greater Grove Hall Main Streets and Now and There, a nonprofit public art curator.
The mural is the first installation in a series called “Mentoring Murals,” a program that invites established Black Roxbury and Dorchester artists to select a younger artist to co-create a temporary mural that is printed on a mesh screen and hung at a location at 345 Blue Hill Ave. The series will look “to amplify the importance of mentorship in maintaining a vibrant Black arts community and celebrate the Black mural movement’s past and present in Roxbury and Dorchester.”
The "No Strings Detached" mural
Goodnight and Pierce have both been active in the Boston arts scene for the last four decades, leaving their mark on public projects around the city and influencing younger generations of artists. Pierce operates out of his African Winter Studio in Dorchester, while Goodnight works out of the Piano Crafts Building in the South End.
Reflecting on how murals must derive their sense of place from their surroundings, Goodnight said he hopes the celebratory nature of the piece will have a meaningful effect on Grove Hall residents.
“It’s about movement, it’s about joy, it’s about a neighborhood. When you do a mural, it’s not for you, it’s for the people who live in that space.”
The temporary mural will remain onsite until the next installation in the series, led by local artists Ekua Holmes and Johnetta Tinker, who will select two younger artists to co-create images that amplify the economic and cultural investments of Black Americans and represent Black power. Those works will likely be ready later this fall/winter.
For more information on Mentoring Murals and “No Strings Detached,” visit nowandthere.org.
