BATESVILLE — Spring will soon blossom in Batesville.
Main Street Batesville, a member of the Main Street Arkansas program administered by the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, an agency of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, recently received a $5,000 Public Art Grant from the Division of Arkansas Heritage. This grant will allow the installation of a mural, Blossoming Main Street, at the intersection of North Cleveland and Main streets in downtown Batesville.
“We are so glad that the Division of Arkansas Heritage made this grant available,” said Mandi Curtwright, executive director of Main Street Batesville. “They recognize the influence art has in the downtown districts, and they were willing to put a financial backing to their vision.
“The presence of art in a town is an indicator to me that the community cares,” Curtwright said. “It shows that more than the bare minimum is being tended to. It’s such a unique way to highlight a facet of a community.”
Curtwright said Main Street Batesville sought the help of the Batesville Area Arts Council in issuing a Request for Proposal for the project.
“We received two bids,” Curtwright said. “We selected Dustyn Bork, an associate professor of art at Lyon College.”
Bork will be assisted by some of his art students in installing the mural.
“Main Street Batesville has worked with the Lyon College Art Department during other mural projects, and it’s always an uplifting experience,” Curtwright said. “The students truly love art, and they are wanting to make a difference in this community.”
“[The site for the mural is] on the north side of what we call the Lee Building,” Curtwright said. “It’s a very prominent location. This new mural is significant of changes that citizens and visitors will be seeing in 2020.”
Bork, who holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in printmaking from Indiana University at Bloomington and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in printmaking from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, came to Batesville in 2010.
Bork said students in his murals classes at Lyon “have experience executing murals the same scale as this [one].”
“We have collaboratively worked on six different murals. Individually, I have worked on three additional murals in the past five years. I will have a few college students helping me with this one,” Bork said.
“The reason we selected an apple blossom and the title Blossoming Main Street is to reflect the exciting growth currently happening in our town of Batesville,” he said. “This is a uniquely beautiful region with many outdoor activities to experience the natural beauty.
“Also, Main Street has been experiencing exciting growth both visually and commercially, and we want this mural to enhance and reflect that optimism. We hope our visitors will share in this enthusiasm and relate to the selection of the state flower and concept of growth through beauty.”
Bork said he hopes to start the project later in March.
“This is one way we can give back to the community in which we live and are proud to be a part of,” Bork said. “We encourage people to come by and talk to us as we work on the mural. We love to interact and answer questions. We plan to begin early spring semester and work weekdays about six hours per day to realistically complete [the mural] in three weeks. We will devote ourselves to this project full time for the duration.
“And when the mural is finished, we hope it will provide an opportunity for people to come back and see what’s happening in Batesville.”
Curtwright said the Public Art Grant is a matching grant.
“We have had several financial services and other entities tell us they are interested in helping match the grant, but we have not firmed up anything at this time,” she said.
Debra Fithen, Arkansas Heritage grants coordinator, said the Public Art Grants assist Main Street and Downtown Network communities in enhancing the appearance of their environment by facilitating the collaborations necessary to build and strengthen an awareness and enjoyment of public art. The grants are funded by the 1/8 cent conservation tax (Amendment 75).
"street" - Google News
March 01, 2020 at 01:05PM
https://ift.tt/3ckpwdN
Main Street Batesville receives Public Art Grant - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
"street" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2Ql4mmJ
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment