Photo Gallery | Portrait artist brushes new life into downtown church murals

Portrait artist brushes new life into downtown church murals

Submitted by Joe Birch, Anchor

Thursday, January 31st, 2013, 2:26am

Climbing to St. Bridget

Artist Ernie Patton says he climbed a scaffolding 18 times a day in his month long work to repaint murals at St. Patrick Church in Downtown Memphis.

Joe Birch

High Wire Act

Patton, age 72, worked long hours for 28 straight days to repaint three massive murals.

Joe Birch

Big Difference

Patton started his work with the mural of St. Patrick (left) and then the Nativity (center). St. Bridget (right) had yet to be repainted in this photo, indicating how dull the murals had gotten after a century at St. Patrick Church Downtown.

Joe Birch

St. Patrick Sparkles

St. Patrick, patron saint of the Downtown Church at 277 S. 4th St. across from FedEx Forum, was first to be retouched.

Joe Birch

Sacred Art

A scaffold stood in the sanctuary of St. Patrick Church for the last month. Members watched the progress of artist Ernie Patton and commented on his skills each Sunday.

Joe Birch

Gold Leafing

In addition to refreshing the painting on century old murals at St. Patrick Church, artist Ernie Patton applied gold leafing to their borders.

Joe Birch

Extending an Artist's Reach

Ernie Patton used a ladder high atop a 30 foot tall scaffold to reach the heights of St. Patrick's sanctuary art.

Joe Birch

A Job Well Done

Patton put his final touches on the murals on Tuesday, January 29. The St. Patrick congregation will see the finished pieces for the first time on Sunday, February 3, 2013.

Joe Birch

A Pastor Delighted

Rev. Tim Sullivan, Pastor of St. Patrick Church downtown, says the parish could not afford Ernie Patton's services. Patton convinced one of his portrait subjects, an anonymous local businessman, to underwrite the cost of the repainting project.

Joe Birch

Not His First Rodeo

Patton says he painted an 80 foot long mural for a business in Gatlinburg, TN and painted a large Beale St. mural for Circus Circus Casino that has now been covered because the casino left nearby Tunica County, MS.