FAIRHOPE — Artist Hannah Legg has been working on a new mural at the Eastern Shore Art Center.

Legg, a Fairhope native, is a muralist, illustrator and designer whose artwork can be found across the Alabama Gulf Coast, including in Foley, Spanish Fort and Mobile. Much of her work can be spotted across her hometown, including in Arts Alley, located between the public parking garage and the rear of the building lining the north side of Fairhope Avenue. She was also the featured artist for the annual Fairhope Arts and Crafts Festival in 2025, painting a mural next to the Fairhope Welcome Center.

“It’s a really, really special feeling,” Legg said about working in her hometown. “The art center obviously has been here for a while, and as a kid, this is something that I could have dreamed about walking by and seeing somebody do something like this. It’s always really special to get to bring that energy back, and, obviously, Fairhope is such a colorful and artsy place. It’s just inspiring being in this space and everybody’s always so supportive of it.”

The idea of Legg painting something at the Eastern Shore Art Center has always been in the back of the minds of those who run it. The opportunity came up earlier this year, with Legg and the art center booking the project, deciding to paint it on the side of the building facing the parking lot and pavilion situated next to North Bancroft Street.

“One of the ways that me and Hannah connected with doing this mural project was she wanted to host her wedding here,” said Kayla Dean, administrative specialist for the Eastern Shore Art Center. “One of the deals that we worked out was if she hosts her wedding here in April, then we would get a mural as repayment of sorts for our academy area, and so it’s been me and Hannah just basically touching base, working with each other about what ideas we had for the area.”

“We kind of wanted to make sure this mural was very vibrant and eye-catching but [also] really brought on the spirit of the art center as well as the spirit of Fairhope,” Legg said.

The mural is separated into different sections.

The first part depicts the ginkgo leaves found on trees on the property, followed by a section depicting a blue heron, which is among the iconic animals commonly associated with the Fairhope area.

In the middle is a section featuring a piece of pottery, a callback to the Eastern Shore Art Center’s history of starting as Pinewood Pottery Studios, followed by a section with monarch butterflies, another critter found in Fairhope. Finally, at the end is a section with an alligator, partly inspired by an 11-foot alligator that was spotted crossing Bancroft Street just north of the art center on Aug. 11.

“I grew up in Mobile. A lot of our other employees were from Mobile or Fairhope, so we all have this connection here with the area and grew up with it, seeing how it’s developed over time, and just having a local artist like Hannah, who's done things nationally but also still centralized in the Fairhope area, has been super meaningful for us,” Dean said. “We wouldn’t ever dream about having something that touches so close to our community and our home done by somebody who wasn’t from here. Somebody who hasn’t touched the mud and the dirt and the sand of this area. It just gives it another element of connecting community with the art center and just giving back to the community, whether they’re visiting here, whether they grew up here, whether they’re coming back here. Just building that community cycle with us.”

Legg’s new art piece is expected to be completed in time for Fairhope’s Art Walk on Friday, Sept. 4.

“I genuinely feel public art is important, and because Fairhope is so artsy, I feel like we definitely need more of it,” Legg said. “There’s been sort of a push forward recently, and I appreciate and get excited about seeing a lot of public art around from me or from other people. I think it makes this place special.”