About Dunwoody reporter. (Sandy Springs, GA) 20??-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 2021)
DUN 30 | Community Facebook.com/TheReporterNewspapers ■ twitter.com/Reporter_News City commissions murals for Black and ’s history months Continued from page 1 city, and we thought this would be a great way for people to celebrate those months in a COVID protocols kind of way.” Walker said the city displayed murals at the skate park last October for Dunwoody’s annual “Arts and Culture” month, which serves as a way for the city to celebrate its different arts groups. Walker said the Octo ber art installation was a success, inspiring the city to do more public displays. The murals are painted on plywood provided to the artists by the city, and hung around the exterior fence of the skate park so they are easily visible. Walker said the installation was funded by money from the parks department bud get. About $13,000 was spent on the proj ect, paid directly to the artists. Walker ap proved the installation since this project was part of the parks department. Going forward, he said the Parks De partment will bring all of their art installa tions to the newly formed Dunwoody Art Commission for approval. The commission had not been formed when the idea for this project came about. Walker said the city invited artists to ap ply to be part of the program through their social media, and a curator at Frame Wor thy Gallery - an Atlanta-based art gallery -- helped put the city in contact with Black and women artists who were interested. Fifteen artists were selected for the instal lation. Walker said when the murals are taken down, they will be kept by the department and used for future events. Mario Padilla, a local artist who par ticipated in the installation, chose Martin Luther King Jr. as the subject for his mu ral. Padilla, who is Latin American, said lis tening to King’s speeches helped him learn English. “When I chose to do this, I wanted to honor his figure in my painting,” Padilla said. Padilla, who lives close to the park, said feedback from the community has been positive. One day while working on fix ing a problem in his mural, he said he was stopped by a kid who had come to skate. “One of the kids playing with his skate board ... stopped and said to me, ‘You’re one of the awesome artists that painted these things for us?”’ Padilla said. “That made me so happy.” Walker said that while no details have been nailed down, the parks department does have several ideas for temporary and permanent art installations. He said de partment staff members plan to meet with the Dunwoody Art Commission in March to go over some of the plans for 2021. A selection of the Black History Month murals that were on display at Brook Run Park in February. Women’s History Month murals were planned for March. PHOTOS BY PHIL MOSIER
