Ed Trask remembers his time growing up in Loudoun County quite fondly, from the teacher at Loudoun Valley High School who encouraged him to pursue art, the friends he made—many of whom still live in the area—to heading out on the Washington & Old Dominion trail before it was even paved. All this is what makes his work on a new mural set to be unveiled at One Loudoun at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 22, special.
“I remember leaving at 18 thinking ‘do I really want to leave Loudoun County? What am I doing?’ I loved growing up there,” Trask, who now lives in Richmond, recalls. “So for me to come back to it and kind of reinvent what Loudoun County was to me was wonderful.”
The mural is part of the more than 6,000 square feet of wall space that One Loudoun has decided to dedicate to public art. It was painted on the wall behind the Alamo Drafthouse and will be viewable by many of the resident complexes surrounding One Loudoun. Steve Hedberg was the designated lead on the project, but he brought on Trask and Matt Lively—all three share space in a gallery in Richmond—to help him take on the massive canvas.
Trask, who has worked on murals previously, was able to bring his experience in that medium to the project, as well as some historical reference. One of the themes of the piece is connection, so for his section he chose to focus on transportation in the area, specifically the old Washington & Old Dominion rail line.
“I love bringing up that kind of a historical reference and I want people that are from Loudoun to know that I’m proud that I grew up in Loudoun County,” Trask says.
The project took a little over two months, according to Trask, mostly due to the heavy amounts of rain the area received this summer. Each painter handled their own section, with only one other person who came in and provided some assistance with Hedberg and Lively’s sections.
Even though it will take up such a large space of the development, Trask credits One Loudoun for allowing the artists to stick to their own creative devices. “They really wanted to have something that spoke to what their development was about.”
Trask plans to be in attendance for the unveiling., and admits to some nerves about the community’s reaction to what is his biggest (literally) project to date.
“You want that initial ‘wow’—which is what the color and the composition and just the fact that it’s such a big mural [should do]” he says. “But then for me, the hope is that it leaves a conversation in people’s minds as they walk away: What was the mural about? Because in all reality, it’s a mural, it’s transient; it’s not going to be there forever. But the idea is that conversation, the legacy of thought behind the mural, will be there forever.”
