The Great Mural Wall of Topeka

Pictures from a Dedication

2011-11-22T10:17:00.001-08:00

Part 2 - Contagious Beauty

2011-07-10T15:00:00.000-07:00

Lead Artist - Ashley

Day 4 of painting.

Katie and Matt

Looking east down 20th Street.

Our mascot and Hulk gloves...

2011-07-03T20:43:00.000-07:00

from the Topeka Capital-Journal
Painters Work on New Mural Wall Panel

By Phil Anderson
July 2, 2011

Despite funding challenges to the arts brought about by state budget cuts, the longest mural in Kansas — and second longest in the nation — is getting a little bit longer. Make that 60 feet longer.

Volunteers on Saturday afternoon weathered 94-degree heat to begin painting the seventh — and newest — panel on the Great Mural Wall of Topeka in the 800 block of S.W. 20th.

After the walls were primed earlier in June, outlines for the latest panel were done Thursday night. Local residents were invited to grab a paint brush and climb a scaffold to start the painting process Saturday afternoon. The community effort will continue Sunday before detail work is completed by artists who are spearheading the project. The newest mural should be done by mid-August.

PHIL ANDERSON/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Cicelia Ross-Gotta, left, watches as Andy Valdivia paints part of the
newest panel on the Great Mural Wall of Topeka on Saturday afternoon
in the 800 block of S.W. 20th.

Cicelia Ross-Gotta, 27, of Fort Collins, Colo., who is in town this summer, has been helping with the mural. "I'm so excited," Ross-Gotta said. "It's really cool to see people from the community get together and work on this."

Andy Valdivia, 62, of Topeka, who has painted a large mural in Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church's Marlo Cuevas-Balandran Activity Center, was on hand to paint Saturday afternoon. He said it was his first time painting a mural in a collaborative effort and said he was impressed with the turnout. "I'm kind of amazed at the whole project," Valdivia said. "When I came here today, I thought there'd be a few people who were here to paint, especially in this heat. But this is a community effort."

Organizers said about 25 people showed up to paint.

The new panel will focus on the theme Contagious Beauty and Local Flavor.

Ashley Laird, a lead artist for the project, said the panel is designed to show the interconnectedness of art and the creative spirit. "That's sort of the idea we've been working with," Laird said, "how art is contagious and how it can spread."

The new mural will focus attention on the growing arts community in Topeka, highlighting new endeavors, such as First Fridays, the North Topeka Arts District and reThink Topeka. The panel also will pay homage to artists who left their mark in Topeka, such as Aaron Douglas, Gwendolyn Brooks, Coleman Hawkins and Robert Ault.

The Menninger Clinic, Mulvane Art Museum and Topeka Civic Theater & Academy also will be included for their role in nurturing the development of the arts in the capital city.

Six 60-foot mural panels that have been painted since 2006 already adorn the previously nondescript white concrete outer wall of the former 10-million gallon city water reservoir, located just west of the Kansas Expocentre. The 11-foot-tall wall stretches 900 feet on its east, south, west and north sides.

Completed murals fill the east side of the wall in the 1900 block of S.W. Western and much of the south wall in the 800 block of S.W. 20th. Murals to date highlight Topeka neighborhoods and community leaders, celebrating the city's culture.

After the south wall is completed, more murals are planned for the west wall in the 1900 block of S.W. Fillmore, then the north wall in the 800 block of S.W. 19th. Dave Loewenstein, another lead artist for the project, said he is convinced the mural will continue, even with funding more difficult to come by these days. "It may be a little harder to raise monies because of some things going on in the Capitol, but it's not going to stop us," Loewenstein said. "There are too many people in the community who support this project. I have no doubt we're going to get this thing done."

The mural project was initiated by the Chesney Park Neighborhood Improvement Association as a way to instill pride in central Topeka and beautify the area while curtailing graffiti. The mural space was donated by the city's water division.

Funding has come from public and private sources, including local residents and businesses.

Part 1 - Contagious Beauty

2011-07-03T20:19:00.000-07:00

The base coat.

Building the scaffold.

Projecting the design (with chiggers).

Community painting days.

Frank

Cicelia

Matt

Maurice

After day 2 of painting...

2011-06-16T10:04:00.000-07:00

Great Wall Mural an 'expression of people's stories'

June 12, 2011

By Andrea Marshbank

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Usually, art is kept indoors, under a thick panel of glass and is credited to one particular artist. The Great Mural Wall of Topeka is anything but usual.

Located on the west side of the Expocentre and near the intersection of S.W. 20th and Western, the project began in 2006. It is led by lead artists Ashley Laird, a graduate of Washburn University, and Dave Loewenstein, a nationally known artist from Lawrence.

"Sometimes art is considered a commodity to be bought and sold," Loewenstein said. "This project reminds us how important art is for the expression of people's stories, where they live and what they aspire to."

Laird and Loewenstein actively involve the people in the community to determine the subject of each Great Wall painting.

"It's their front yard, their backyard, they drive by it every day. The art is much more than paint on a wall," said assistant artist, Cicelia Ross-Gotta, about the embrace of the citizen's input. "Because it's not in a gallery, we have to approach it differently."

The Great Mural Wall of Topeka started as an effort by members of the Chesney Park Neighborhood Association to clean up their area of graffiti and give something beautiful back to the community.

“People's history envisioned” has become the overall goal for the program. Each painting is used to symbolize events, places or people that are important to Topekans, both past and future.

Already, the 900-foot wall has been adorned with six 60-foot long murals, about such topics as the environment, Brown vs. Board of Education, Central Park Neighborhood and others. When the wall is finished, it will have 15 sections of murals. The seventh installment's title is "Contagious Beauty and Local Flavor." The topic is to exemplify the sources of inspiration in Topeka for the townspeople that cause them to create their own art, in any way, shape or form.

Laird and Loewenstein invite Topeka residents to help prime the wall on June 18 beginning at 10 a.m. Participants need not bring any supplies.

Andrea Marshbank can be reached

at t.andrea.marshbank@cjonline.com.

2011 Mural Begins

2011-05-24T12:58:00.000-07:00

New Mural Project at the Great Mural Wall

First Community Meeting

Saturday, May 28th

10 am

Blue Planet Cafe

110 SE 8th

Topeka, KS

In this, the seventh panel on the Great Wall, lead artists Ashley Laird and Dave Loewenstein will work with local artists, arts advocates and neighborhood residents on a sixty-foot mural that celebrates the heritage and continued vitality of Topeka’s creative community.

With looming cuts to arts spending in Kansas and across the nation, the theme of this mural is especially relevant. Through this project, we want to focus attention on the brilliant arts community taking shape here by highlighting Final Fridays, NOTO, reThink Topeka, and the countless other arts offerings sprouting up around town, while also looking back at the many individual artists and organizations that have nourished and inspired its development.

Timeline

May Research and Design

June Painting

Artists, art advocates and other interested Topekans who would like to help with this project should contact Ashley Laird at:

ashleyjanelaird@gmail.com

Great Mural Wall in the news

2010-10-31T09:45:00.000-07:00

Tom Benaka, president of the Chesney Park Neighborhood Improvement Association, tells a group about the newest mural on the Great Mural Wall of Topeka on Saturday afternoon during a ceremony at the site, near S.W. 20th and Western. Looking on are mural artists Ashley Laird, left, and K.T. Walsh.

from the Topeka Capital - Journal

October 23, 2010

By Phil Anderson

Shirley Anstaett doesn't live in the Chesney Park neighborhood, but that hasn't stopped her from taking pride in one of the community's crown jewels — the Great Mural Wall of Topeka. "It just really makes me proud," Anstaett said of the project. "It brings such beauty to the community." Anstaett was one of about 50 people who gathered Saturday afternoon for the unveiling of the latest mural of the project, an artwork with an endangered creatures theme.

The mural, which was sponsored by the Chords and Oil artist collective, was started in late June and completed a week ago on the south side of what had been a city water reservoir near S.W. 20th and Western. It shows a variety of animals that have existed through the years in the Topeka area, some by water, others on land and still others in air. Some of the animals on the new mural, like the woolly mammoth, haven't been seen for centuries. Others, like the red-bellied snake and whooping crane, continue to make their home along the muddy, frequently polluted waters of the nearby Shunganunga Creek.

The latest mural joins others with Topeka themes that already have been completed on the side of the former water reservoir, which has 900 feet of wall space. To date, more than 450 feet of the gigantic white wall space has been covered with colorful murals. The project was started in 2007 and was initiated by the Chesney Park Neighborhood Improvement Association, which wanted to instill pride in the Central Topeka community while at the same time beautifying the area and curtailing graffiti.

The project now has reached the halfway point. Space exists for about six more murals, which will be painted as funds become available.The goal is for the project to be completed by 2012. Artist K.T. Walsh, who has been involved in painting the murals, said ideas are solicited from the community before a group of artists comes up with a plan for a mural. Groups of volunteers then paint the murals, often sitting on scaffolding in blazing summertime heat. Walsh said some ideas for future murals are the city's Oakland neighborhood, "remarkable women" and the Latino tradition of Topeka.

Funding has come from a variety of sources, including the Security Benefit Group and Kansas Arts Commission, whose contributions were key to the completion of the most recent mural. "This year, they were very important for us," said Chesney Park Neighborhood Improvement Association president Tom Benaka. "We really appreciate them." The first murals were completed in the 1900 block of S.W. Western, just west across the street from the Kansas Expocentre. New ones are being painted around the corner on S.W. 20th, just west of S.W. Western. Future ones will wrap around the corner to the north in the 1900 block of S.W. Western, then along S.W. 19th just west of S.W. Western.

Previously finished murals depicted Topeka neighborhoods and community leaders. All of the murals will have Topeka themes, celebrating the city's history and culture. The project has been overseen by nationally known mural artist Dave Loewenstein, of Lawrence. When completed, the mural will be the largest of its kind in Kansas and second-largest in the United States, organizers said.

Zach Snethen, 30, accompanied by his wife, Erin, 29, and son Oliver, 10 months, took an up-close look at the newest mural on Saturday afternoon.

"To take a blank wall like this and put art on it that represents the community is pretty amazing," he said. "You can drive by it, but it's really good to stop and study it, because they really do have aspects of the entire community on the wall."

Phil Anderson can be reached at (785) 295-1195 or phil.anderson@cjonline.com.

Mural Dedication

2010-10-11T20:33:00.000-07:00

Celebrate the completion of

Topeka's Endangered Creatures
the Great Mural Wall's newest panel
Saturday, October 23rd
2 pm
20th & Western
Topeka, Kansas

Threatend and Endangered

2010-10-11T15:54:00.000-07:00

Process photos of the new mural directed by KT Walsh, assisted by Ashley Laird, and in collaboration with the arts collective Chords and Oil.

Elmhurst mural completed

2009-11-22T22:41:00.000-08:00

Puttin' Down Roots in Elmhurst
Lead Artist - KT Walsh
Assisted by Ashley Laird
With support from dozens of community volunteers

Help Support the Great Mural Wall

2009-11-22T17:07:00.001-08:00

There are many costs associated with completing the Great Mural Wall of Topeka, and we need all the help we can get. From smaller things like paint all the way up to funding an entire panel, all contributions are appreciated. Each 60 foot long panel costs about $16,000. With seven left to go, it means we're only $112,000 away from completing the wall!

Help us make this the longest mural in Kansas, and the most vibrant cultural site in Topeka.

Yes, I want to donate!

Michelangelo ..... $ 5,000

Diego Rivera ......... 1,000
Aaron Douglas ......... 500
John S. Curry ........... 100
Apprentice ................ 25

To donate on-line, click here.
When you reach the Topeka Community Foundation Donate On-line page, click on the box that says "I want to make a donation to" and choose "Chesney Park Mural Fund."

You can also send your donation.

Please make checks payable to:
The Great Mural Wall / TCF

And mail to:
Topeka Community Foundation
5431 SW 29th Street
Topeka, KS 66614

The Chesney Park Neighborhood Improvement Association is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All donations are tax deductible.

For more information contact Tom Benaka at:
785-234-4664 or tbenaka@swbell.net

Celebrating Elmhurst

2009-11-11T20:36:00.000-08:00

Dedication for the completed Elmhurst Mural is Sunday, November 22nd at 1pm! SW 20th & Western

Topeka High

2009-11-11T20:09:00.000-08:00

"The Road From Brown V. Board"

Completed in July of 2009.
Lead Artist - Dave Loewenstein.
Assisted by KT Walsh and students from Marty Moreno's Advanced Art class at Topeka High School.

Free Fair

2008-09-03T14:05:00.000-07:00

"Preserving Memories of the Free Fair"

Completed in October of 2008.
Lead Artist - Dave Loewenstein.
Assisted by Julie Ferreira, KT Walsh, and community volunteers.

Dave, KT and Julie have been working since the end of July to design the latest mural panel about the Kansas "Free Fair" which took place directly across from the mural! The site was the original location of the Kansas State Fair before it's relocation to Hutchinson. Over it's long life of nearly one hundred years the fair had several incarnations from State Fair, Free Fair, Mid-America Fair, and lastly the Sunflower Expo.

At its height the fair had almost half a million visitors from all over the country. Featuring Kansas industries and trades the fair was home to amazing sights and great craftsmanship; giant butter sculptures, ceramics from Kansas clays, local food preserves, racing locomotives and horses. Art was a central feature of the fair which would display art from institutions as great and far away as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It was also know as the largest "free fair" of it's kind in the country. The carnival-like atmosphere beckoned people to the "Midway", to leave their work and woes behind for a brief weekend's delight!

For more information about the Free Fair and it's various incarnations here across from the mural wall, visit the Topeka Library's Topeka History Room and read "Come to the Fair" by Maybelle M. Sheetz 1998.

In line with the free and fun energy of the Fair this latest mural panel is unique. Less of a historical narrative than a spirited evocation of the Fair's memory. This panel beckons the passerby to suspend belief and with it's bold colors and and surreal content. Larger than life jars "preserve" central and playful fair features like carousel figures, farm animals, and games.

This mural is also different in style. The color study was created using a "cut paper" method. This method is ideal for working with groups; more hands can create a unified looking style, and anyone - even those who fear drawing - can participate. Instead of painting or coloring in an outline drawing; the outline is filled in with cut pieces of colorful paper. It gives a more edgy and layered quality to the work; you may notice sharper edges, and colors that look placed on top of one another.

Central Park

2008-07-18T08:49:00.000-07:00

" A History of Central Park"

Completed in August of 2008
Lead Artist - Dave Loewenstein.
Assisted by Natalie Anne Dye, KT Walsh, and community volunteers.

With just under ten days left to paint, the
Central Park panel is coming into focus.

Swans have landed in the pond,

and butterflies are appearing over the arbor.

Rain Delay

2008-07-08T15:52:00.000-07:00

Half-way through the painting of the Central Park
panel we encountered our first rain delay.

Kaylee and KT working before the rain hit.

We decided to take a break when the lightning started.

The peanut gallery was quiet.

Great sidewalk drawings of Topeka

2008-07-06T07:41:00.000-07:00

In addition to the new Central Park panel going up at the Great Wall, lots of passersby take advantage of the new smooth sidewalk in front of the mural to add to an ever changing gallery of sidewalk art. Yesterday, an extended

family of ten related young people created these pastel on toned concrete sketches.

Central Park Panel - part II: Community Painting Days

2008-07-01T19:47:00.000-07:00

On June 28th and 29th, the community
was invited to paint on the new Central Park
panel. More than fifty people stopped by.

We started with the background colors.

The weather cooperated.

Kay Conn painted Kay Conn.

KT assisted visiting painters from the Villages.

So far so good.

Central Park Panel - part I

2008-06-29T21:06:00.000-07:00

During the week of June 15th, the Central Park
panel of the Great Wall got its start.

First, we built the scaffold,

next, we painted a base coat and made a grid,

and then we transferred the design.

Natalie and KT celebrated!

The first mural panel is complete!

2008-06-26T17:44:00.000-07:00

"Tribute to Grant Cushinberry"

Completed in June of 2007.
Lead artist - Dave Loewenstein.
Assisted by Camille Bachand and community volunteers.

First there was a wall

2008-06-26T15:38:00.000-07:00

This is what the Great Wall of Topeka looked like before we began painting in 2007. The total length of the wall, which spans three blocks, is close to 900 feet.