Art collaboration as big as the city goes on display Friday
With a mind to bring people together, Love set high hopes in
"In the very beginning, we tried to do something insanely great. I'm coming from that
With help from the city and its schools, the county's parks, libraries and historical society, Love dreamed big.
The scope of the work involved personal conversations with thousands of residents who participated in projects in 23 of
Some projects put an artsy twist on simple maintenance, like hanging murals and power-washing and painting the city's only two outdoor swimming pools, which saw more swimmers with the more vibrant look. The city is having internal discussions about the fate of the pools, including how to afford their maintenance and management.
There also were fun events, including a festival of bubbles at
Finally, there's art that reactivates once-thriving neighborhood gathering spaces. Across from the Summit Lake Reach Center on school property marked as a city park, Love and volunteers installed six workout stations along a 1,700-foot exercise loop. Beside the remnants of a rotten staircase, new wooden steps now lead up a hill to a rediscovered concrete pad where families once sat under a pavilion before dirt and time swallowed the spot. A rundown basketball court in the middle got vibrantly painted aluminum backboards, donated by
All over
Community project
Born in
"I've always been in a kind of diverse environment: people of different countries, different languages, different value systems, different religions, completely different backgrounds," he said. "Moving around a lot, I always appreciated that no matter how long people have been on this Earth, they each have a very rich story that we need to respect."
Starting with community leaders, Love said his team talked with more than 100 residents to help shape the scope of his @Play project. "He's going to where they live. And I think that's very important," said City Planner
After a few days at the first stop in Middlebury, he traded in the idea of an 18-month calendar of predetermined events for deeper engagement that allowed residents to pick and create the art. Instead of "helicopter projects" dropped from a well-intentioned-but-ill-informed, out-of-town artist, he gathered input and then let local residents select from a list of 12 or so options.
He learned that people had grown tired of fleeting help. They desired lasting change. Though it cost a bit more, he prioritized more permanent projects, or ways to make cheap works last longer. For three months, Middlebury residents painted inside the lines of 20 murals sketched by artists on giant canvasses. After being touched up, much of the community's markings are still visible on works all over
The concept has produced more than 70 murals with a graffiti-proof coating, each able to be installed and removed from buildings that might get torn down or sold. Ten are still being finished, and 40 are still looking for a public-facing home. Email [email protected] with any interest to hang them.
On North Hill, Love said black residents asked for murals that honor Italian and Polish immigrants who stood by
A third of the Knight funding Love received for the project went to local artists. In addition, he relied on a locally sourced team including interactive manager
"I've always been East-to-West," Harvey, a 29-year-old born in
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