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🌞 Mid-August rundown: Sneak peek at the Hi-Lake murals

(And much more.)

Longfellow Whatever
— 5 min read
🌞 Mid-August rundown: Sneak peek at the Hi-Lake murals
Rendering of the planned designs for the two Hi-Lake underpass murals

🎨 The barren, massive walls of the Hiawatha-Lake underpass will get a pair of colorful murals next month, the final piece of a two-year reconstruction of the busy interchange.

The $8 million project included a sizable $369,000 budget for artwork. The city ultimately selected a team of four artists – Natchez Beaulieu, Daniela Bianchini, Pablo Kalaka and Greta McLain – to lead the project, with the stipulation that they involve nearby residents in the process.

The group has hosted a series of events allowing people to paint and tile less technical portions of the mural themselves. (They're painting on fabric that will be applied to the wall.) The group worked with students at several area schools on the design and hired a dozen South High students to complete much of the painting.

They're now putting the final touches on a series of tile mosaics that will be mounted around each of the eight lights on the underpass walls. The group is hosting workshops the next two Mondays for people to work on those mosaics, from 6-8 at the Semilla Center for Healing in Phillips. They plan to begin installation of the 5,200 square feet of artwork in September and expect it to take about a month.