CURB APPEAL
Artwork to cover streets at 3 Classen-10-Penn intersections
Oklahoma City is taking an unprecedented step in bringing public art to neighborhoods with a series of murals to be painted on residential street intersections in and around Classen-10-Penn just west of downtown.
City Manager Jim Couch noted the project is “something we’ve never done before.”
“It’s a neighborhood-led project, a neighborhoodrequested project,” said Shannon Entz, who oversees the city’s Strong Neighborhoods Initiative. “They will
be intersection murals and they reflect the vibrancy of the neighborhood, its different cultures and diversity.”
Such murals are being created in Denver, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Seattle and Portland, but have not been done in Oklahoma City other than an unauthorized late-night street-painting spree in the same neighborhood by singer Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips.
Following a call to artists in January, Cassie Stover was chosen to create “Talavera Azul” at NW 13 and Ellison Avenue and “Talavera Rojo” at NW 12 and Indiana Avenue. Both span 20 feet by 20 feet.
The $7,000 for “Talavera Rojo” is fully funded by the Mid-America Art Alliance, while the Alliance is providing $1,300 for “Talavera Azul” and another $5,700 for the mural is being paid through Community Development Block Grants.
A third mural, “Clasp” by the Holey Kids artists, will span 26 feet by 43 feet at NW 12 and McKinley Avenue near McKinley Park.
The Alliance and grant funds also are splitting the $7,000 cost of “Clasp.”
Investing in the neighborhood
The murals represent an ongoing investment in
Classen-10-Penn, which was a Strong Neighborhoods Initiative participant until last year when new neighborhoods were chosen as part of a second phase.
Entz said the murals are part of a one-year pilot program with money reserved to address removal or clean up of the art if they don’t fare as well as anticipated.
Only one council member, David Greenwell, expressed reservations about the project, saying he supported it but wondered about the choice of doing it on street surfaces.
“I’d like to see as much art in the city as possible,” Greenwell said. “We’ve had a history of putting in decorative bricks in intersections and that has not gone over well. People have asked why we are spending money that way. I would encourage putting art throughout the city where it’s more visible.”
Entz responded public art is being planned along the back of a stage being built at McKinley Park.
Mayor David Holt, however, urged planners to go even further with crosswalk art being done in other cities and resisted by Oklahoma City’s public works department.
“I think this is fantastic and we need more and more and more of this,” Holt said.
“We need it on arterials and crosswalks and I’m not afraid to say that. From my perspective, keep it going.” U.S. No 1 HARD RED WINTER WHEAT (BU): MILO (CWT): Livestock report from the Oklahoma City Stockyards: Receipts:
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