Award Winning Summer Murals Program Brings New Public Art to the Atlanta Community

Atlanta, GA (August 8) - The City of Atlanta Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs award winning Summer Murals 2002 program will celebrate its end tomorrow at 6:30 pm at the City Hall East Gallery (675 Ponce de Leon Avenue). In May of this year, the Georgia Assembly of Community Arts Agencies (GACAA) awarded only two arts organizations an award for programs that endorse their philosophy of building community through the arts. The Kaleidoscope Award was presented to the City of Atlanta, Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs, Summer Murals program at this year’s GACAA Annual Statewide Arts Conference.

This summer, four sites were added to the 12 completed during the past three summers. After a summer full of creativity, murals, created through a collaboration between professional artists and inner-city youth from the city’s Camp Best Friends program, will be permanently displayed as public art at the following new sites:

West Manor Recreation Center
3204 West Manor Circle

Arthur Langford Jr., Park Pool
1614 Joyland Place

English Park Recreation Center
505 Bolton Road

South Bend Pool
Lakewood Avenue (work being done at Southeast Recreation Center)

“We are proud to be a 2002 Kaleidoscope Award recipient. This recognition gives Summer Murals additional merit while continuing in its mission to enrich communities and children’s lives.”

Karl McCray, Acting Commissioner
Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs

The mission of the Summer Murals program is to utilize artists, children and the imaginations of both to create artwork that enhances neighborhoods throughout Atlanta. This year’s program was lead by a team of professional artists including:

Jason Johnson - artist team coordinator. For the 2001 program, Jason completed a mural with children from Perkerson Park. The mural is located at Adair Park II on Murphy and Lillian Avenues. His professional work includes a mural at Market One (formerly Harry’s in a Hurry) on Ponce de Leon Avenue.

Velma Ludaway joined the program for the first time last year and collaborated with children at Mozley Park Recreation Center on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, for a mural installed at Maddox Park Swimming Pool on Bankhead Avenue. Her work outside the Summer Murals program includes the Line Series, which “…aspires to bring new life and hope to what seems to be an endless situation.”

Marco Razo brings experience working with children in Brooklyn, New York. His artworks are primarily influenced by literature, poems and movies.

Michele Schuff, another newcomer to the program is excited about working with children who “are not art students.” When she’s not working with the kids this summer, she works at the Fox Theatre as an archivist.

Jim McKean has shown in the Jimmy Carter Library, Gallery Verdio and the Mattress Factory. Jim brings his commercial mural expertise to the program.

Summer Murals offer local artists of diverse backgrounds an opportunity to engage Atlanta’s children in the creation of artworks that will enrich and revitalize the Atlanta communities in which they live.

“Through the Bureau of Cultural Affairs Public Art program, we have a wonderful outlet in Summer Murals that involves the City’s youth and their communities. Our goal is for it to continue to be a staple in Atlanta’s art culture.”

Camille Love, Director
Bureau of Cultural Affairs

The program’s major supporter this year is AT&T. Other sponsors of Summer Murals include Alusuisse Composites, Laird Plastics, Chroma Incorporated, Far From Normal, Home Depot, and Pearl Arts & Craft Supply.

The City of Atlanta Bureau of Cultural Affairs (BCA), a division of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs, was established in 1974 to encourage and support Atlanta's cultural resources. In order to improve the social fabric and quality of life for Atlanta's citizens and visitors, the Bureau is committed to nurturing excellence and diversity in the city's artistic offerings. Acknowledging that the arts play an essential role in defining the cultural life of the city and contribute substantially to the city's economy, our organization strives to enhance Atlanta's reputation as a cultural destination. The Bureau seeks to support programs that educate and expose the public to a rich and diverse range of cultural expression and aspires to make arts available to everyone.

Media Contact: W. Imara Canady
Phone: 404-569-6257 - cell
404-817-6825 - office
icanady@ci.atlanta.ga.us