Bringing art to our city: Part 2

The work begins

By: Trinity Stevens

As promised, “The Cauldron” returns to you with the latest update about the Great Lakes Financial Company mural project. Our Cleveland State University art students have been hard at work. The first article left off with three different potential designs for the mural, two by Mya Rowe and one by Taylor Johnson. 

A lot has happened since then. For starters, Great Lakes has made their final decision which design, or rather designs, to go with. They chose not only one design, but one design from each artist, expanding the mural project to include two images rather than just the one. 

The selected designs were Johnson’s piece, which comprises various local images and the word “Ohio,” and Rowe’s piece, with the couple eating dinner in front of the Playhouse Square chandelier. Below are both of the designs as shown in the previous article.

By now, the artists have begun work in the actual space for their larger creations of these designs. The murals are going up in the Osborn building downtown, in the building’s breezeway. Since Great Lakes went with two images, there will be one on either side of the walkway as you enter the building. 

Johnson and Rowe have completed a sketch of their designs in the space and have started on the larger bulk of the work using acrylic paints. Here are both of the artworks as of a week ago:

Even in a little over a week, the artists have made notable progress in their works from what you just saw above. The students’ professor, David Hicks, went and visited the mural site again only a few days ago. Below you can see the most recent photos of where the students are in their works.

The students are expected to be wrapping up the project around early May. “The Cauldron” will get back to you on how it goes with a third and final article closer to that time. So stay tuned!