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Pelicans Replace Graffiti on Pump House Wall

Feb. 25, 2005 – There's a few more pelicans in Charlotte Amalie, but they aren't in the water. Gracing the side of the old pump house on the road to Long Bay –- in all sorts of attitudes, including upside down –- these whimsical water fowl emerged from the paintbrush of one artist who decided to replace the graffiti stains on the walls something more nourishing to the spirit.
"I wanted to give residents and tourists something more comforting to the eye when passing the site. The location is considered a good point to exhale when entering or leaving downtown Charlotte Amalie," Robert Ellison says.
Ellison is contemplative about his work. "I think people prefer alternatives to the constraints of attention and energy spent on distractions that rob the eye, the mind and the spirit of time better spent on more peaceful options, like considering a flower, a rainbow."
Or, a pelican.
"The birds seem to be a passing relief to most, whether jogging, walking from the cruise ships, or caught as a victim of the bumper-to-bumper traffic," he says.
Ellison got the idea after gazing at the scarred, graffiti-covered walls long enough.
"I couldn't understand why no one had painted over the graffiti. So I called Wayne Callwood, [Public Works commissioner] and told him what I'd like to do, and he asked me to submit a sketch of what I had in mind, which I did, and which he liked."
And, Ellison says, speaking from long experience, "I know sacrifices come with the gift of being talented. I'm self-taught, and I know that if you don't just go ahead and start something yourself, it might not get done."
He says he used all kind of paints on the mural – "oil-based, acrylics, and a sealer to preserve it. I get material from thrift yard sales, whatever I can pick up. The painting is in an ideal spot, because it doesn't get the direct sun."
Over the last couple months, Ellison could be seen bringing his pelicans to life, climbing around the pump house, sometimes precariously.
"For the bird at the end of the building, I had to have a friend put a ladder in the ocean and hold it to stabilize me," he says, "while I painted the bird diving into the water."
Actually, Ellison didn't do the whole mural by himself. He says he help from "an unexpected visitor," one who "flaunted a protective interest in what was going on.
"I was having problems with what I was going to do with the beak of a bird on the wall, and this pelican landed and came right up to me, about three feet away, and he posed. He would turn right and turn left," he says. "You can't tell me there wasn't something more there than meets the eye. I knew then I was supposed to be there."
Ellison says he meditates before he goes to the wall to paint, "so it's just a matter of putting it down, once I get there," though he was happy to accept help from his feathered friend.
Ellison moved to St. Thomas about 20 years ago from Washington, D.C. He says of his gift, "it's a lifetime thing. I started cartooning as a youngster. When I came here, I had good weather all year around. I like to do things that are related to nature. Most folks like nature."
Ellison is also a sculptor and wood carver. He signs his work, "Notnu," the signature under the pump house mural. He says he came by his gift naturally; his father was an artist.
"He gave me the name 'Notnu.' He was sharing with me that what we do is just an extension of what came before us. It's in respect to what has already been done. I leave my life open to anything peaceful."
More of Ellison's work can be seen at Glady's Cafe in Royal Dane Mall.

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