Lauren Andreu, 1402 Jim Hamilton Blvd, Columbia, SC (2026)

07/03/2025

“A hub of local culture and entertainment, Hunter-Gatherer Brewery also became the home of the Aaron Graves memorial mural, an outdoor mural painted on the northern exterior brick wall in honor of local musician and community builder, Aaron Graves, who passed away from cancer in 2019.”

Graves and his wife, Jessica, founded the local band, The Lavender Whales, and the Fork & Spoon record label. They soon captured the hearts of performers and audiences in the local music scene in Columbia. They opened their home to friends and acquaintances on a regular basis for potluck dinners and became known for their kindness, creative energy, and friendship to many.

At Graves’s memorial service, a few friends decided to work together to support the creation of a local memorial in his memory. Lauren Andreu, a high school friend, had established herself as an indoor and outdoor mural artist in the region. She took the project, and, with the dedication and hard work of Graves’s family and friends, the Aaron Graves mural on the northern exterior wall of the Hunter-Gatherer was created and painted. The mural has weathered the years since then and has helped add to the sense of community unity and gathering already offered by the Hunter-Gatherer Brewery.

The decision to deconstruct the Hunter-Gatherer Brewery also provided the way for the bricks that comprise the Aaron Graves memorial mural to be preserved. Volunteers gathered Saturday, June 28 to do the work of carefully removing individual bricks, cleaning them, and placing them on pallets to be stored at a USC Foundation site. It is the hope of Andreu and the friends and family of Graves that the bricks will soon be reconfigured into a mural at another location in Columbia.”

06/26/2025

Today is your last chance to see the new rendition of the before the wall comes down. Why repaint it in the first place with only a few weeks left before it would come down?

I had passed the mural a million times over the years since 2019. The Before and After shots could be named “Before and After, After”. Because they don’t show the in-between faded mural after all the wear and tear of the last 6 years. A wear and tear that really wouldn’t have been so pronounced if I had known what I was doing back in those days.

But it was me and first time using cans, and we had no idea the magic that is using artist grade paint the likes of , and so I headed to Home Depot and shot up the wall with Rustoleum and Martha Stewart craft paints from Michaels. Raw do***ng it with a small donated budget and no fancy spray caps.

Since I had virtually no spray control and no understanding of the medium, I also didn’t get to do right by the design we had really wanted to install. Part of the journey towards painting the mural had been working with .bon.ez Aaron’s wife, and , a mutual friend, to make sure the elements represented Aaron. (For instance, I originally had a long board featured, so Jessica put me on the right track).

In addition, ‘s dad, Claude Gilbert is an exquisite illustrator. Thomas had played in several bands with Aaron growing up, and we had spent many a lovely evening in Hopkins on their beautiful property having a dinner or a birthday party. I thought it would be pretty sweet if Claude could be a part of mural, too, and we get to mix our styles. We had him work on some rendition of a whale and the clouds with words.

Well, there are ideals, and then there is reality. Once I finally got to the wall, I had not the confidence nor the can control to be able to execute his designs. Claude, being a humble man, didn’t show any disappointment. But I felt it myself.

So, when I heard the wall was coming down, I knew it was now or never. Thanks to everyone who made the mural happen before, again, and now again. (swipe for Design draft and mural before redo!)

See you Saturday! Link in Bio.

06/03/2025

Re: the deconstruction/demolition of 900 Main St.

With all the planning and meetings and coordination and collaboration, my feelings hadn't quite caught up to me. But yesterday, on a bike ride through Forest Acres, I felt the tears and the grief begin to come.

No matter how we fluff it, another landmark of love and community is coming down in the name of development. As a Columbian, we gather in these places to celebrate birthdays and graduations. We get off from work to meet up with old friends and run into our professors and colleagues. We get a drink from our favorite bartender, and we watch Those Lavender Whales play on stage.

I have felt a sense of betrayal even, when a multi-million dollar entity comes in and seemingly "destroys" a place that is a part of what we Columbians consider home.

And I don't think those feelings should be glossed over. The anger, the betrayal, the bitterness... we get to feel it all. It's not trite to care about the destruction of gathering spaces where love and community flourishes. Places that house thousands of collective memories.

There are many questions that I have wrestled with in regards to why this property is coming down. But for my own heart, I'm choosing to lean into lessons from mother nature where nothing is permanent except for the birth, death, rebirth cycle.

As humans we become attached to our manmade structures, and we want them to live on forever, but impermanence is what teaches us to cherish what we have right now.

When I was working on the memorial mural of Aaron Graves. (), I felt like I was spending time with my friend. I felt exhausted at times working with unfamiliar materials and substrate, but I would remember Aaron's smile, and his laugh, and his heart, and all the people he touched, and it made it all worth it.

He was a man who wore his heart on his lapel. A man who cherished the people around him and welcomed us all into his home to be a part.

I love you Aaron and so grateful to have known you.

See you at Hunter-Gatherer Brewery & Alehouse on June 6th at 6:00 pm with more info on what's next.

I want to thank University of South Carolina Development for working with us and Historic Columbia to bring in Conway Salvage Inc. to do the next best thing which is to take the wall down brick by brick. We have organically developed a collective that is doing the best we can all things considered. There is grief, but there is also joy in new beginnings. We’re asking you to come be a part of this process starting June 6.

much love,

Lauren Me'Chele Andreu

12/18/2024

Everything is in the eternal now of incarnation. where our bodies, our blood, our feet meet the Earth.

To be a woman, has been my most exquisite gift from Source and to the world.

09/16/2024

Hi friends,

Want to update you on what I am up to and an opportunity to get involved in the design process of a community mural!

I was selected as the OneColumbia Public Artist in Residence and am in the process of planning a community mural centered around the theme of Mental Health.
See below and please register if you are interested at [email protected]

There will be multiple opportunities to get involved! If you want you can also participate in the survey: https://lauren502.questionpro.com/t/AbExAZ3XjY

Address

1402 Jim Hamilton Blvd
Columbia, SC
29205

Website

http://www.laurenandreu.com/

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