Right at the top, longtime artist Cory Robinson acknowledged that this is a first for him: Having his work partially framed by stop signs.
But the Herron School of Art professor perhaps can claim additional street cred — all by virtue of having his brightly colored geometric patterns merged with those of Indianapolis interdisciplinary artist Shamira Wilson, literally right on a single block of Columbus’ 16th Street.
"It exceeded my expectations," Robinson said of the just-completed effort, made possible by more than 30 volunteers.
So it is for the 16th Street Neighborhood Asphalt Art Project, coordinated through the Columbus Area Arts Council. Out of 200 applications nationally, Columbus was one of 16 cities selected for the Asphalt Art Initiative. A local committee from the 16th Street neighborhood selected the artists.
The ground plane mural, installed along 16th Street between the intersections of Home Avenue and Union Street, was made possible by the New York-based Bloomberg Philanthropies Asphalt Art Initiative grant program with additional support from the City of Columbus and Columbus Regional Health Healthy Communities.
The abstract artwork will remain for about a year to 18 months, according to the arts council. The project originally was planned for last year, but COVID-19 restrictions changed that. Kathryn Armstrong, the arts council’s executive director and also an artist well-versed in bright outdoor creations, including her own, is pleased with the result.
"I think the mural looks fabulous," Armstrong said. "It’s very vibrant, and really adds to what is already lovely about that area."
She added that the impact will be measured by nearby residents’ response via social media and in other ways.
"I think it’s already been impactful just by virtue of the fact that it brought something new to Columbus," Armstrong said.
This fits part of her original vision for the arts council to reach beyond performance arts only to incorporating more of the arts into residents’ everyday lives. She talked of such when she assumed her post in 2016.
The new design already has seen ripples of appreciation beyond Columbus. Wilson posted a partial shot on her Facebook page early this week, and the response was more than enthusiastic.
People posted reactions ranging from "Wowza!" to "Absolutely beautiful!" Wilson, who has two asphalt art projects in Indianapolis, said she is happy to have a chance to work outside her home base of the circle city.
"It’s nice to be in a new city and connect to people in another arts community," Wilson said. "And it was really exciting for me to be so welcomed by the community."
She added that she loved collaborating with Robinson. The pair’s two completed images on opposite ends of the street are a mix of Robinson’s and Wilson’s geometric-style shapes.
"Her work and my work have a lot of similarities and sympathies to each other," Robinson said. "Together, we looked at our work, and noted some of the common shapes we could find — some leaf shapes, semi-circle shapes. And both of use a lot of planned geometries in our image-making.
"And color is huge for both of us. The color pattern we came up with was mostly about the vibrancy we thought that needed to be on the street."
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- Cory Robinson is an artist, designer, and professor at the Herron School of Art and Design – IUPUI in Indianapolis. He has a master’s in fine arts in applied design from San Diego State University. His bodies of artwork represent many different explorations within the field of furniture design and contemporary art.
- Shamira Wilson is an Indianapolis-based interdisciplinary visual artist. She received a bachelor’s of arts in psychology from Johns Hopkins University in 2004, and has studied furniture design at the Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis. Her current work uses textiles, architecture, and plants as metaphors to speak about connections and cycles of care in our relationships to ourselves and our communities, and to explore stewardship to the environment.
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