Brandon from RHD’s Center for Creative Works featured in 2019 Harrisburg Mural Festival

Brandon, an artist at RHD’s Center for Creative Works, installed an epic 15-by-30-foot mural as part of Sprocket Mural Works’ 2019 Harrisburg Mural Festival. Brandon’s mural graced the side of the Stokes Millworks building at the corner of Fourth and Sayford streets in Harrisburg. Brandon worked on his mural for months at the Center for Creative Works, a unique, creative day service program with a focus on arts and arts based skill-building, education, in-house generated vocational opportunities and community involvement for people with developmental/intellectual disabilities.

The Burg, Greater Harrisburg’s community magazine, profiled Brandon in a story titled “Meet the Artist: Brandon Spicer-Crawley installs his first large-scale work during Harrisburg Mural Festival.”

Sandra Spicer-Sharp said it was one of her proudest moments as a mom.
Her son’s artwork, created on parachute cloth, was laid out on the grass aside the Stokes Millworks Lumber Storage Building on 4th Street near the Broad Street Market on Thursday evening, ready to be installed as part of the Harrisburg Mural Festival.
“My emotions are all over the place,” she said. “When it goes up on the wall, I’m going to lose it.”
While some muralists paint directly onto primed walls, live during the festival, others like Brandon Spicer-Crawley create their works ahead-of-time on the durable cloth that is then adhered to a wall’s surface and sealed, preserving it as mural art.
Spicer-Crawley is no ordinary artist. Within the diversity of the 2019 Harrisburg Mural Festival’s artist lineup, he is an intellectually disabled, African-American artist with a prolific ability for art.
“I knew he had artistic talent when he was 4 years old,” said Sandra Spicer-Sharp. “He was born with his own intrinsic drive to create art.”

The Center for Creative Works is committed to an environment in which people learn, engage, create, and take ownership and pride in their work and in their place in the community. Opportunities and choices are offered throughout the day on many levels of involvement from growth and promotion of personal bodies of artwork to skill building. Find out more at www.centerforcreativeworks.org

See photos of Brandon working on his mural at The Center for Creative Works and installing it in Harrisburg