Painted Ladies

Columbia Tusculum apprentices sketching the local architecture

After a brief hike through the colorful—and hilly—streets of Columbia Tusculum, the Documentary Crew caught up with the Columbia Tusculum Mural project, gathered at the top of the hill, sketchbooks out and pencils brandished. Looking more like a class of DAAP students than a group of teen Apprentices, Columbia Tusculum was spending the morning sketching architecture drawn from the beautiful houses that surround their project. Fondly termed “Painted Ladies” these Victorian houses are decked out with intricate details and stunning coats of paint in rich and surprising shades. Zigzags of purple, pink and yellow are not uncommon on these houses, which, though often almost one hundred and fifty years old, are anything but sedate.

Project Manager Pam Kravetz told me that apprentices were drawing on the neighborhood’s treasure trove of color and design for inspiration to create borders that will later surround the panels of the murals they’ll be painting. Judging by the fact that even I was itching to sketch the beautiful architecture of the Painted Ladies, this mural’s in for some beautiful borders.