- I'm a public artist.

Public arts mean that you go out there and you don't own the work anymore.

It's for the community.

(upbeat jazz music) I went to Springfield College.

I needed a job and I wandered over to the art department building, 'cause I heard they needed somebody to clean up.

And I ran into the chairperson, and he said, "You think you wanna transfer?

I was in the Art and Urban Life program."

I said, "Art and Urban Life program.

What is that?"

And he said, "You make art relative to the work and the people and the type of environment that's out here.

Plus, I have a job for you too.

You know, I can give you 20 hours a week."

Well, that sparked my interest, 'cause I was broke.

(upbeat music) This first mural was started in 1971 at the African American Cultural Center at Springfield College.

And I started painting it in 1971.

I finished it in early spring of 1972.

And that was the beginning of me painting murals.

I was a loner.

I was kind of a quiet kid.

After I graduated, I became a traveling muralist and I ended up down here.

I went to the police department.

I tested for the Norfolk PD.

And when I got in, I started to see there was a few people that I saw in the community.

They were doing art and they were doing theater.

And I hooked up with a little small group.

I can design sets and I can write plays and I can work with teaching.

That was my beginning of teaching writers.

And I started taking writing classes and playwriting and screenwriting in New York.

And I was starting to date my first wife, Gail Davis.

And she started to go with me.

She got into it.

We met at UMass.

Several years later, I ran back into her after I graduated and we found out that basically, both of us needed each other.

And we ended up eventually getting married.

And several months later we had a child, my son.

And that was probably one of the happiest moments of my life.

(somber music) Children theater didn't have money, but I kept saying, "If you're working with these kids and we can give them a nice program and we can do plays that let them do the work, let them be the hams on the stage.

So, create a fantasy world for them."

And I said, "Well, I know how to do that."

And you know, as a result, the kids just loved it.

During that time we had Derrick Williams and Thominita Booth.

She went to the Mickey Mouse Club and Derrick Williams went to "Wicked" on Broadway and "The Full Monty" and "House of Mormon".

At the same time now, my wife is getting sick, so I had to run back and forth to chemo.

As she gets worse and worse with the cancer, she was into working with other people and helping them, because some of the young playwrights would come to her and say, "Hey, how do I get this done?

How do I do it?"

And she would just sit there.

Even when she had the cancer, she would help them through.

When everything went upside down and she really took a turn for the worst, I realized that I was gonna be in the house.

I gotta do something to keep my sanity.

And I started painting, and it gave me something to focus on other than all the death and despair that was around me.

And then she passed and I said, "I need to do more painting."

(upbeat jazz music) This is from Dr. Valli Meeks when she was in Rwanda.

You see her with the blue mirror and one of the tools that you do for cleaning.

She had gone over to Rwanda to do some work.

Harvard Initiative was doing the dental school.

They were creating a first dental school in Rwanda.

You know, right after the genocide.

There's a happiness in this clinic.

So, I had to make it so that in this world that they created, it was like I wanted to give it a feeling of happiness.

There was dignity, because that was one of the things that she wanted them to have.

She did not want 'em to walk out of there without their dignity.

One of the patients that she had, they had asked, "Who was the person that had the most influence on your life?"

He said, "Dr. Meeks, she gave me back my smile."

So, I thought about it, I said, "No, this always has to be about smiling."

There's the teeth here, they're bright, there's the toothbrushes.

And you know, she always used to tell them, "You gotta brush."

And of course, the sunlight.

And they're happy up here and the angel is up there.

And we don't have enough public servants that care about people.

We need to write more stories about public servants and people, just ordinary people, who rise to greatness, because of what they give.

(upbeat jazz music) We didn't know each other that well.

I was working with a group of alumni people, so we were trying to get a scholarship.

So, we were calling around the people we knew and I happened to know Valerie.

You know, we just became like phone pals.

But she always encouraged me to keep painting and keep doing this.

She pushed me.

I think it's the support that she gave me.

And finally, I started going up and seeing her.

And we ended up, you know, coming together.

She was that voice that was kind of, it was like a grief counselor for me.

Valerie was a lifeline to me.

We ended up getting married.

I look at it like, yeah, you know, I will never forget Gail, but I've moved on to a new life.

(upbeat jazz music) I'm just happy that Norfolk gave me this exhibit.

I've had people tell me that they have seen it, you know, and they loved it.

So, I think that the arts is something that brings people together.

And sometimes, we find out that in the humblest of circumstances, at the lowest level of the arts, is where the community really grows.

(upbeat jazz music) (upbeat jazz music continues) (upbeat jazz music continues)