{"id":6526,"date":"2013-09-25T09:11:19","date_gmt":"2013-09-25T14:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=6526"},"modified":"2024-07-02T14:25:57","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T14:25:57","slug":"peppersart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=6526","title":{"rendered":"Pepper\u2019s Pizza paintings to hang at Hill Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Music<\/a>
Music Department Chair Mark Katz is bringing the beloved Pepper’s Pizza art to Hill Hall. (photo by Dan Sears)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mark Katz had two thoughts last March when he heard the beloved eatery Pepper\u2019s Pizza would close immediately after 26 years on Franklin Street.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know which came first, the thought, \u2018I need to get one more slice of pizza,\u2019 or \u2018I need to get a hold of those paintings,\u2019\u201d said Katz, chair of UNC\u2019s music department (pictured above).<\/p>\n

The 19 paintings in question were the restaurant\u2019s vibrant portraits of musicians native to North Carolina, a favorite sight for regular customers like Katz, who often lunched at Pepper\u2019s and had a standing<\/p>\n

Friday pizza date with his wife and daughter there for years.<\/p>\n

By the time Katz could get downtown the evening of March 4, Pepper\u2019s, which continued to make pizzas for a packed crowd until the cheese ran out, had served its last slice. Though the restaurant was closed and employees were enjoying a private party inside, Katz made his way in. He found artist Scott Nurkin\u2019s contact information on the wall and stepped out to the sidewalk to make a call.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t have a lot of time to think, and I wasn\u2019t thinking I wanted the paintings for myself,\u201d said Katz. \u201cI immediately knew I wanted to house them at the Department of Music.\u201d<\/p>\n

The paintings are the work of artist and musician Nurkin, who graduated from Carolina with a degree in art in 2000 and whose murals can be seen across the state. He\u2019d made the portraits for David \u201cPepper\u201d Harvey, the restaurant\u2019s owner and a close friend of Nurkin and his wife, Erin, then a manager at Pepper\u2019s. The collection debuted when the restaurant moved down the block to 107 East Franklin St. in 2006.<\/p>\n

Each painting depicts a musician \u2013 John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Randy Travis, Ben Folds and Charlie Daniels are just a few \u2013 in what Nurkin saw as their heydays. He created each in a day, or over the course of just a few days, and set them in thrift-store frames. They were screwed into the wall atop a Carolina-blue mural of the state.<\/p>\n

\"Artist<\/a>
Artist Scott Nurkin hangs a painting of noted North Carolina jazz musician and composer Thelonious Monk in Hill Hall. Monk was born in Rocky Mount in 1917. (photo by Dan Sears)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In exchange, Harvey had promised him free pizza and beer for life. That deal ended too soon when Harvey gave Nurkin a subtle heads-up that he should come get the paintings. Business, especially during lunch, had been declining for a few years, and Pepper\u2019s could not stay open.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everybody was shocked,\u201d Nurkin said. \u201cYou expected Pepper\u2019s to last as long as the Smith Center.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Nurkin finally made it over to Pepper\u2019s late that evening, someone immediately offered him $500 for the Randy Travis portrait.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly had no idea how valuable these paintings were to people,\u201d Nurkin said. \u201cSuddenly everyone was asking what was going to happen to them. Paintings create their own value, but I was never thinking about that. I was just banging out paintings for my friend Pepper\u2019s wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Nurkin and Katz finally connected, Katz said he knew the offer was a long shot.<\/p>\n

When asked if he would sell the paintings to Carolina, Nurkin said, \u201cMy most immediate thought was, \u2018yes.\u2019 But I was still thinking of auctioning them off to help Pepper.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, the chance to keep the collection together, and to connect his work to the University, helped him make the decision. And, Nurkin added, he liked Katz.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got to know Mark, I realized \u2013 here is this classically trained violinist who wrote a book on the art of the hip-hop DJ. I knew it would be a total honor to have my work live in Hill Hall, and I can\u2019t think of it going to a better place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After Nurkin cleaned the paintings of pizza grease and grime, they spent the summer on exhibition at the Center for the Study of the American South\u2019s Love House in tandem with scholars\u2019 essays on the musicians. Through the end of September, Nurkin will be installing them at Hill Hall around both floors of the rotunda and recreating the North Carolina mural on the second floor.<\/p>\n

Since the artist frequently visits Hanes Hall to check out current student art, he\u2019ll be able to see his work nearby. Had the paintings gone to private buyers, he might not have seen them again.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have them at my alma mater and just a couple of hundred yards away from their original home makes a lot of sense,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Katz said acquiring the collection was a way of keeping alive an institution treasured by the Carolina community and preserving a part of the University\u2019s mission. Alumni, students, faculty and staff still can enjoy the paintings now that the restaurant is closed, and it gives the Chapel Hill community another reason to visit campus.<\/p>\n

That celebration of music flowing back and forth between town and gown communities continues a goal Katz has as a music lover and educator.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of my work in teaching popular music is bringing students and the local music community into contact,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re music educators, and this is another way of educating people about music.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a state school and here to support the state, and these paintings reflect a big part of the state\u2019s musical heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Courtney Mitchell, University Gazette<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Music Dept. Chair Mark Katz is bringing the beloved Pepper’s Pizza art to Hill Hall. After Pepper’s closed, Katz acquired the paintings of N.C. musicians done by UNC art alum Scott 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