The Giant Cup in Augusta has a New Look Thanks to One Local Sign Painter
If you are a native of Augusta, you’ve probably ridden past the “Augusta Cup” on Wrightsbroro Road at least once in your lifetime. While the building that the cup is attached to has been home to different companies over the decades, such as Dart Container Corporation, the Fort Howard Paper Company, and the Lily Tulip Company, the cup has remained.
During those times the cup had a painted design, but it has been nothing but white for the longest time.
Well, not anymore!
Local Sign Painter, Addison Niday, has brought the cup back to life! I was able to talk with the talented painter all about how this project, how it came about, other murals he has done around the city, and more.
Addison Niday – The Sign Painter behind the Augusta Cup
Q. Addison Niday! Again, Such an amazing job on the “Augusta Cup” Mural. Before we get into your piece – Tell us a little more about you! Are you an Augusta native? When did you get into art, and better yet when did you take your art off paper and start creating murals?
A. Thanks very much, I’ve been in Augusta since 2019 but I am not a native, I was born in Columbus, Ohio & moved around a lot but I’m happy to have chosen Augusta as my forever home.
I started getting into lettering watching my Mom write addresses on envelopes paying bills. I’m pretty obsessed with my Moms handwriting and found out about calligraphy and typography more when I started learning about social media at 16-17 years old.
I’ve been pursuing a full-time career in signs & art since I moved to Augusta yet my first Mural was requested by Eric Kinslaw of the Bees Knees Downtown that really liked one of my sketches I did of lettering that looked like honey. I was in there a lot working on logos and websites and got the chance to meet Eric and it really ignited a flame in me after my first one to do more & I became extremely passionate about murals after that one & it’s really the community who has shown so much love and support to me that makes me want to continue to do more, for them and my community.
Q. Many people were so curious about what the “big cup” would become. I saw around social media some were hoping for “Master Shake” from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. How did you come to the final design?
A. Yes! Jonathan Waters and I spoke about Master Shake a few times when he created the petition. I took the page and sent it over to the owner, along with a few other designs that didn’t mention the cup primarily. The end design was the “jazz” design of teals and purple crayon marks and we had that solid idea of putting “Augusta” in black with the jazz design behind it.
The owner & I both did our research on if we could possibly get into trouble for using their image with a business name and decided after a lot of considering it was not 100% safe to run with that idea. Since the initial conversation I knew right away I wanted to bring that laurel design back into the banner so that was a no brainer and the owner immediately agreed. The designs on the cup were always very simple and ultimately we wanted to not drift too far away from that.
We do have more plans for the cup in the future we’re both really excited about for the community. There’s other smaller projects that take priority right now inside of the building but you can expect more from the Augusta cup this fall.
Q. How did this opportunity come about?
A. The owner originally wanted April Henry King to do a mural on the cup for him as her style is incredible and work is phenomenal who wouldn’t want her work. Due to other obligations she asked if it was something I would be interested in and of course I was thrilled to even talk with someone about possibly doing it. It’s an opportunity of a lifetime for me to paint on a massive cup. I was over the moon when I got the call from the owner to talk about doing it.
Q. Well, it seems like this piece is getting a lot of attention already! What has the city’s reaction been so far?
A. It’s been incredible it’s surpassed anything I’ve done in my career in terms of positive comments and messages. I’m just overwhelmed in a good way of the impact it has on the community and how much that cup means to us all. It’s an honor I don’t take lightly.
Q. This isn’t your only work to show! What else have you painted around the CSRA?
A. I’ve done a Never Give Up mural for Save.org, a revolving mural project where other artists who have never painted a mural or painted 15 murals can showcase their work and get first hand experience with what it’s like doing one. That changes out every 100 days and a new artist will take their place. I restore a lot of old faded ghost signs around Augusta to give others the opportunity to see what hand painted ads looked like in the 1930’s-1950’s in their prime.
Q. Seeing any mural come to life is like magic! Can you break down the process of doing a mural such as this – for example, this is a huge cup how did you maneuver around it to paint it? How long does a project like this take to come to life?
A. The hardest part was choosing the right lettering. It’s a strange surface obviously cylindrical which was very difficult to know for sure how easy or hard it would be to paint on. It came down to me getting on the lift the first night and just maneuvering around and using chalk and pastels on it to get a feel for drawing on that surface. A lot of people may not also realize that the surface is not smooth at all. It’s very textured and rough so being very careful with my brush strokes was critical in making high quality lettering on it. Once I felt comfortable enough using chalk and dry brushing, it took 2 days of 3 hour nights to complete the full image.
The process was very simple as I have plenty of old photos of the cup in its earlier days that showcased the laurel design so that was I think the easiest part because I didn’t have to do much but just recreate what was there but in black. It’s always been magenta red or blue so it was really cool to have our own spin on it by making it black.
Q. Is there anything you would like the city to take away from this piece when riding past?
A. I feel like it’s more of a cup now than just half of a pillar so I really really hope it brings back a lot of memories for others that remember it with the laurel design and I hope it creates new memories also for new people that are seeing it for the first time.
Q. What is one thing you love about being a muralist?
A. I really love the reactions people have to my work. When people take selfies or post them or share their photos of my artwork, it makes me feel like I’m a part of their lives and their a part of mine. I love how connected to the community it makes me feel. I would do murals for free if I could just figure out how to not be homeless by doing that.
What a pleasure to learn more about this Augusta staple and the painter that has brought it back to life. If you want to learn more about Addison Niday and keep up with his work, check it out here.
