Two new murals are coming to downtown Columbus in October.
The Columbus Board of Works has approved street closures requested by the Columbus Area Arts Council for the implementation of these murals as part of the Sixth Street Arts Alley project.
The requested closures are as follows:
Oct. 13-22: Closure of Sixth Street between Washington and Franklin streets
Oct. 23-27: No parking on the south side of Sixth Street
Oct. 28: Closure of Sixth Street between Washington and Franklin streets
Per the council’s request, these closures are to enable the creation of an asphalt mural on Sixth Street and a façade mural on the Odd Fellows building.
“The requested days include time for cleaning, implementation, a five-day cure time per the paint manufacturer’s recommendations, and an opening celebration for the project,” council representatives stated.
The request to restrict parking on Oct. 23 to Oct. 27 is so that the façade mural can be painted. Sixth Street will remain open to traffic during that time, but a boom lift will be used on its north side.
The façade mural will be on the south wall of the Odd Fellows Building, which is located at 601 Washington St. and has recently been painted white.
“The building owners have hired painters to update the building in general,” said Daniel Martinez with Landscape, Art & Architecture (LAA) Office, the design team for the arts alley project, “…but to also implement a new palette, so that the muralist that we’re working with on the art piece can have a blank canvas, so to speak.”
The artist for the façade mural is Nick Smith of Indianapolis, who Martinez said prefers to be credited as “Nick Abstract.”
According to Smith’s portfolio site, he is a colorblind contemporary artist who specializes in “urban abstraction.”
Martinez said that while there may be some overlap, the plan is for LAA Office to do the asphalt mural first, and then Smith will work on the façade mural.
The arts council and LAA Office are also seeking volunteers to help paint the asphalt mural from Oct. 15 to 17, and a link for sign-ups is available on the arts council’s website.
“We will mark the completion of Phase I, the painting of the street and wall mural, with an Arts Alley Celebration,” the council added. This opening event is set for Oct. 28 from 5 to 7 p.m., hence the street closure on the same day.
