This episode features the Get Outside Mural which in on the back wall of SafeNest Storage at 137 Sugarloaf Road. The mural can be seen from the Exit 49A off ramp on Interstate 26 where it intersects U.S. Highway 64. To get a close up view of it, the storage company will grant access to the mural through their front office during their normal business hours according to the artist who painted it.

The artist is Andrea Martin, an interior designer, artist, and muralist based here in Hendersonville. Andrea is a native of Henderson County and owns Meliora Cabinetry in downtown Hendersonville. She has painted murals all over the Southeastern U.S. and, of course, several of those are right here in Henderson County. Three of those are here in Hendersonville and are featured on this audio tour, The Veterans Mural and the Butterfly and Mountains Mural.

Andrea started painting murals when she was moved to honor local Henderson County veterans. She volunteered her time and resources to do that first mural. After that she found other places that she felt needed artwork to improve the area and inspire others.

She conceived of the idea for the Get Outside mural in an effort to cover up an eyesore that greeted visitors to Hendersonville at the I26 Exchange. The building was a former discount clothing store that had long since closed up. Ugly graffiti littered the huge wall facing the busy cloverleaf and she was bothered by the fact that that would be the first impression of her hometown by tourists when they arrived.

She took the initiative to approach the new owners of the building and they happily agreed to give her the huge wall as a canvas.

She tells us more about her motivation for that and then will describe all the elements of the mural which features ten different natural attractions in the local Blue Ridge Mountains.