Time was that first-time visitors to Kilgore Hall — home of the Department of Horticultural Science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences — might get the impression that they had wandered into a north-campus annex to N.C. State’s gym complex. That’s because the ceramic-tiled lower walls of the hallways, while green, gave the place an ambience less sylvan than locker-room.

But times have changed — beautifully.

The main hall of Kilgore is now home to a mural painted in acrylics by CALS student Preston Montague, a senior in Horticultural Science’s landscape design option. “The concept behind the mural was to do a portrait of horticulture in North Carolina from the coast to the mountains,” says Montague, who earned a degree in fine arts from UNC-Greensboro before coming to N.C. State. “To drive this point home I painted native trees and plants that are familiar sights in our landscape.”

Montague says he intended the effect of the painting “to be like opening a year book, seeing familiar faces and feeling sentimental.”

Indeed the pastoral vista is a striking blend of colors — from fall auburns to spring pastels — as Montague depicts the state’s indigenous plants and trees along a stream that runs from mountains past flowers and greenery that grow both wildly and by landscape design.

“Describing our spirit of horticulture in North Carolina required more than just painting lovely nature scenes,” Montague says. “I also had to describe the role that we, as humans, play in the landscape. I didn’t want to encumber the image by getting too specific, so I depicted horticulture in broad categories. These include formal and informal gardens, along with study and production fields.” 

Montague wove these scenes in and around the wilder scenes to illustrate the connection between the two.

“The plants with the most presence in the image are intentionally the trees. Some of my favorite species are represented, like the bald cypress, dogwood, magnolia, and sycamore. In addition, I have given detail to azaleas, pitcher plants, shore mallow, and pickerel to strengthen the native theme,” he says. “There certainly are other distinctly native plants in the image, but I kept their level of detail low to maintain some ambiguity. I didn’t want everything to be immediately identifiable because then the painting would lose some of its magic and mystery.”

This work of magic and mystery had its origin in fortuitous accident.

“The mural was a solution to a problem that we had in our main hallway, where a portion of the wall simply fell off,” says Will Hooker, CALS horticultural science professor of landscape design. “We tried a number of different options, and finally, at the suggestion of our bookkeeper, Sandi Wash, we decided to look for someone to do a mural in the space. Our department head, Dr. Julia Kornegay, a person comfortable with and courageous enough to try creative and unusual ideas, agreed to have a mural painted.”

Hooker happened to have an advisee — Montague — with a background in fine arts, who agreed to do the mural. The rest is art history, and the results, Hooker says, “are spectacular.”

Montague is also “very happy with the result, and I definitely had a lot of fun creating the image,” he says. “It was a lot of hard work, and there were a few nights that I went home frustrated by mistakes that I had made. But, in the end, the mural came out even better than I had expected. That makes me very happy.”

He began working on the mural at the end of August 2007 and finished in early January. And it was not always an easy process, he says.

“Murals are tough. Anytime you’re creating artwork in a public space there are special challenges. My biggest challenge with this particular mural was probably its size.  I’ve painted larger murals before, but nothing with the level of detail that this one has. 

“Willing all of that imagery into being required a lot of emotional input. There were times when I felt totally drained and had to really push. But, overall, it was a very cathartic experience,” Montague says. “I would like to thank Will Hooker, Dr. Julia Kornegay, and my friends in the bookkeeping department in Kilgore for making this project possible. I would also like to thank all of my friends in the department whose encouragement kept me going through some very, very late nights.”

He also acknowledged his parents who, “were really good about getting me involved in a range of creative outlets when I was younger.” 

It was in Greensboro that Montague, after his UNC-G graduation, tried to balance a full-time job with creative freelance work.

“At the time, I was working with some incredibly talented people, and accomplishing some very interesting projects. But, my schedule required an unsustainable amount of creative energy.  I felt like I was spread too thin to do any one thing masterfully,” he says. “Fortunately, by this time, I had developed a real passion for plants and ecology. Gardening would soon become an outlet for my new, insatiable interest. 

    “Before too long I realized that gardening was a very effective tool for self expression. In addition, a career in landscape design would be the perfect marriage of everything that I was passionate about, and a great way to share that passion with others,” he says. “I came to NCSU to get the horticulture education that I needed to get my career started on the right foot.”

And when he’s done here, Montague, who hails from “from the rolling hills of Charlottesville, Va.,” says, “I would like to design inspiring and sustainable outdoor spaces that nourish body and soul.”

— Terri Leith