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FeedOn the Wall
Miniscule murals celebrate the city’s birthday
PHOTO BY WILL SHILLING
Tucked in an alley between Broad and Gay streets is a mural so small and unobtrusive, it’d be easy to miss: a rendering of the view from the intersection of East Lynn and North Lazelle streets on a swath of wall no bigger than a couple of feet.
The work, by local illustrator Susan Otten, is one of 24 planned this year by Columbus Public Art’s Urban Plein Air Paintings project, which brings members of Central Ohio Plein Air to canvases scattered across the exteriors of Downtown buildings.
Project curator Malcolm Cochran says the idea came from artist Shelly Willis, who organized a similar effort in a run-down area of Sacramento in 2009 and 2010. The paintings there followed the plein-air style of working outside in view of the subject and were meant to be temporary. Businesses became so enamored with the pieces they erected Plexiglas screens to protect them from the elements. “People absolutely loved it,” Cochran says.
Last year, while Cochran was working on the Goodale Park fountain, he noticed members of Central Ohio Plein Air working nearby. He approached group president Bill Westerman, who loved the idea of a partnership and helped scout several locations for the paintings.
So far, five pieces have popped up Downtown, and seven spots are primed and waiting for artists.
The project began in May and, like other public art efforts celebrating the city’s bicentennial, will continue through the rest of the year.
“The shifts in the seasons tie into the theme of ‘Finding Time,’ which is all about the awareness of time,” Cochran says. “If we’re lucky, someone will be painting in the snow in early December.”
