Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1061165
that tone and atmosphere, it would be important to not only find a place where the remnants of the past—the fictionalized, bucolic, small-town Americana of the forties and fifties—coexists with the present—dead-end jobs, opioids, the haves and the haves less. This juxtaposition of extremes is something that I came to realize would be a good starting point to create the tone of the show. But what would be the visual totems of the promise and privilege of the past? How could I add them visually to a practical location? I looked at a lot of period photos of small towns and was intrigued by the old painted advertising billboards on the sides of brick buildings. Faded and crumbling, they seemed to not only be frozen in time, but the subject matter—perfectly quaffed women enjoying life's luxuries —encapsulated exactly many themes and symbols of the show. During a scout in the town of Barnesville, Georgia, I came across a mural on the side of a tire repair store that was prophetic—a square-jawed man in the J.C. Leyendecker/ Norman Rockwell painting style of the 1950s, done by a fantastic local mural artist named A.P. Henry. The town itself was a good mix of rust belt textures with a sense of history, being the buggy-making capital of the south at the turn of the century, and having a passenger train line run right through the center of town that was active up until the 1970s. It would make a great Wind Gap. With mood boards and rough sketches in hand, I reached out to A.P. Henry about creating other murals for us in strategic places around town. For pivotal scenes, concept art was done incorporating the town square and old train depot in the center of town with other relics of the past that the production would dress/build into the town, such as the statue honoring Civil War Gen. Calhoun, the town hero and patriarch. Boarded-up windows and storefronts, additional confederate signage, a drab color palette and the aforementioned murals were some of the finishing components incorporated into the town appearance. C A. MURAL BY ARTIST A.P. HENRY ON A TIRE REPAIR SHOT IN BARNESVILLE, GA. B. PREPARATION DRAWINGS FOR LOCATION MURAL. C. WALL MURAL ON LOCATION. SET PHOTO. A B B