The Charlottesville Mural Project is working on four murals for 2012.
1. The first mural will be a collaboration with St. Anne’s Belfield School. The middle school Arts teacher, Kim Cox, asked the CMP for assistance on a large-scale mural project to be completed by the current 8th grade. The wall sits on the outdoor basketball courts and will be an interactive piece that each graduation 8th grade class throughout the years will contribute to! Local artist and muralist, Patrick Costello will be helping with the project.
2. The second mural will be a collaboration with The Bridge’s Southwood Community outreach coordinator, Alexandra Triana. She works with kids from the Southwood Community at the Boys and Girls Club. Starting this Spring, she is planning an outdoor mural with the theme “Summer.” We’ll be assisting her with some early planning stages, the application, and general management. We’re excited to see what they come up with!
3. The third mural will have a specific audience: the Amtrak passengers. A resident of the Star Hill neighborhood contacted the CMP wanting to do a public art piece on the side of her house. The unique thing about the wall is its clear visibility from the Amtrak platform. Together, we thought it would be neat to create a mural that spoke to the train passengers. It will either be a message greeting the passengers as they arrive in town, or wishing them a farewell as they leave Charlottesville. We’re working with a very talented sign and typography artist, Heidi Tullman, who is currently brainstorming on some designs.
4. The fourth mural will be the most extensive, and our biggest project in 2012. Unfortunately, we have not finalized a location, but due to the subject of the mural, we are hoping we can land a wall on Water Street. This mural will commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act. The CMP is partnering with the Rivanna River Basin Commission, the Rivanna Conservation Society, and StreamWatchto produce the mural. Together, we hope the mural will create more awareness within Charlottesville for the Clean Water Act and the important Rivanna river basin that we interact with everyday.
We are also excited to be partnering with local artist, Kaki Domick, also known by a lot of folks in town as the Director of The Haven. Kaki creates incredibly imaginative worlds in her drawings, melding the animal world with the natural world. We can’t wait to see her sketches as she works through this winter and spring on a final design.
Keep your eyes out for a Kickstarter campaign later this summer and help us raise the funds to complete this massive mural.