Plaster, when done well, has the look and feel of old-world quality and craftsmanship. For the Footprints storefront we hired Ben Graham, the local king of plasterwork, to restore our historic plaster walls. We wanted to differentiate ourselves from the typical strip mall store sheetrock and/or wood slat walls. We wanted our walls to tell a human story, conveying a human touch rather than a machine-made feel.
Last week we took you on a quick tour of the Missouri Theater, the atmospheric movie palace in St. Joseph, MO. What primarily made that theater so spectacular is the plasterwork. I was amazed to discover that the Missouri Theater plaster was conceived and executed by someone without decades of experience. In fact, Waylande Gregory was only 21 when he worked on the Missouri Theater.
Waylande acquired the nickname "Kid Gregory" due to his outsized talent and young age. He was the youngest of six children, born in Baxter Springs in southeast Kansas. His father was of Scotch and English descent, and his mother was of Spanish and Italian descent. She was a concert pianist. A precocious child, Waylande impressively sculpted with mud while at the local swimming hole, created things with his hands, and composed music. His parents encouraged his art. Anyone who observed him could see his natural born talent. At age 17 in 1922 he moved to Kansas City, where he got a job with the McCartney Ornamental Plastering Company. At the time, the company was working on the Administration Building at the University of Kansas, Strong Hall. Waylande, who was still a teenager, was tasked with designing and executing all the architectural ornamentation at Strong Hall.
Strong Hall, University of Kansas
In 1924, he made his way to the Chicago Art Institute, where Waylande connected with Lorado Taft, a well-known sculptor at the institute. Taft invited Gregory to both study and live at Taft's Midway Studios. Famous architects and artists, including Frank Lloyd Wright and Gutzon Borglum, would drop by the studio to talk about art. While studying with Taft in 1925, Gregory was hired again to design and execute the ornamentation for the Aztec Room in Kansas City's new President Hotel. Interestingly, the McCartney Plaster Company held that contract. Then, at age 21 in 1926, Waylande turned his talent to ornamenting the Missouri Theater.
The Aztec Room, by Waylande Gregory
Waylande Gregory with the Lamassu
Gregory became a major figure in both ceramics and sculpture. If you want to be reminded of the importance of historic preservation or wonder at the talent of someone so young, take a tour of Strong Hall or the Missouri Theater.
Take a walk with Birkenstock.
