Pain t
By Design
Four years ago, Mon River Trails Conservancy and Morgantown Area Paddlers installed a canoe and kayak launch at Van Voorhis Landing north of Star City. Since then, they’ve installed five others along a 40-mile section of the Monongahela River. Two of those launches—Van Voorhis and Star City—have permanent pilings: 40-foot-tall metal pipes that anchor the launches. “We’ve been working to revitalize the riverfront for years,” says Mary Wimmer, flatwater kayaker and orga- nizer of Morgantown Area Paddlers. “When you’re down there surround- ed by beautiful plants and the gor- geous river, the pilings just don’t go with the rest of the surroundings.” So, as a way to reinforce the natural beauty of the riverfront, Wimmer and MRTC executive director Ella Belling launched the Mon River Water Trail Art Challenge to raise $1,500 by December 1. The funds will allow local artists Eddie “Spaghetti” Maier and Eli Pollard to improve the look of pilings. MRTC, using grant funding from Your Community Foundation, will match donations dollar for dollar. In September, Maier installed a Jack and the Beanstalk-esque wild sunflower painting on a piling at the Star City launch. The Morgan- town-area artist told Wimmer it was a creative exercise; it’s sock-like and slips over the top of the piling. He installed another painting at the Van Voorhis launch at the end of Sep- tember. This one depicts the river’s waterbirds—blue herons. RIVERFRONT a group of paddlers and a nonprofit pioneer a piling beau tification projec t. Razzle Dazzle
upcoming plans to pain t the town.
The City of Morgantown has completed its 2020–2022 strategic plan, a road map to make Morgantown a more vibrant and welcoming community over the coming couple years. City Council identified developing arts and culture as one of 10 strategic goals, to enhance quality of life and spur economic development. And let’s be honest: Morgantown needs that now more than ever. Priority number one toward that end: Coordinate and create an avenue for artists to showcase their work throughout the city. And one way City Council plans to make that happen is by developing a mural program. “If you have a program of what murals are and how they work, you can manage it and try to encourage that it’s done in a way that’s col- laborative,” says Vincent Kitch, Morgantown’s director of arts and cultural development. The City plans to develop its mural program next year, but we’ve already seen collaboration through Main Street Morgantown’s (MSM) own mural initiative. Mills Group LLC, an architecture firm in Morgantown, created a mural master plan for the MSM Design Committee. The plan identifies 25 potential locations for murals. “We stepped back as planners and designers and thought about what would have the biggest impact,” says Michael Mills, managing principal of Mills Group and chair of the MSM Design Committee. Mills Group considered existing mural locations and pedestrian and vehicular perspective when selecting potential mural locations. They opted for buildings at gateways, intersections, and traffic signals as places where murals could provide the largest communitywide benefit. The first property owner to give approval was the Morgantown Parking Authority at its Pleasant Street parking garage, says Barbara Watkins, executive director of MSM. This isn’t the first public arts initiative that MSM has gotten behind. Have you seen
the trash receptacles downtown that are wrapped with artwork from five local artists? In April 2019, in partnership with Arts Monongahela, STICK Tattoo Company, and the City of Morgantown, MSM used grant funding from the five-county Your Community Foundation of North Central West Virginia for the project. YCF has also been instrumental in MSM’s mural project. “We have been looking to put murals downtown for years,” she says. In January 2020, MSM applied for The Organizational Arts Grant, made possible through a collaborative effort between YCF and Arts Monongahela, with funding from the City of Morgantown, the Monongalia County Commission, and the Douglas H. Tanner Memorial Fund for the Arts. MSM was awarded $5,000 for its mural project. With funding from YCF, Hops on the Mon, and the West Virginia Birthday Celebration, Main Street Morgantown has designated $12,000 for the mural project. The organization plans to have three murals completed by May 2021. During the last week of September, MSM sent out a call for proposals, and Arts Monongahela shared it with its Creative Network, a coalition of artisans, arts groups, art supporters, and passionate community members. The MSM Design Committee will select the murals’ artists from the proposals they receive. “We are looking to be thoughtful about the decisions we make,” says Beth Keener- Flanery, executive director of Arts Mon. “Public art impacts everyone. We want it to be something that enhances the space, the community.” The mural program is an investment that can allow Morgantown to do more, Watkins says. “It will give the City and organizations like Arts Monongahela good leverage when applying for additional grants. We’ll always be looking to add additional murals.”
MORGANTOWNMAG.COM 11
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker