“This year we will present two large-scale murals and two painted city utility boxes,” said Jenn Acus-Smith, StreetSpark Mural Program Manager. “All four of the new designs celebrate the ways people nurture, brighten and protect our community. We can’t wait to add more color to Hamilton this summer.”
The murals will be created by teams of professional and student artists. The first mural, titled Cultivating Community, will be painted at 601 Park Avenue in Hamilton. This design depicts cupped hands pouring water into a field of blossoming flowers and it was created by Jamie Schorsch, an Oak Hills High School art teacher and artist.
The second mural, Charge the Line, will be painted on the Local 20 Professional Firefighters Union meeting hall at 350 N. Third Street in Hamilton. This design shows a masked firefighter surrounded by billowing smoke. The background evokes the American Flag, and the thirteen stars represent the firefighters who have lost their lives in the line of duty on the Hamilton Fire Department.. Charge the Line was created by Hamilton resident Jennifer Eickelberger, artist, and wife of an HFD firefighter.
The third design, Changing the World through Art, One Kid at a Time, will be painted on a utility box located at the corner of Main and B Streets in Hamilton. This design is a collaboration between a local father and son; Brent Billingsley created a greyscale portrait of his son, backed by his son’s colorful, abstract artwork. Brent and Lavelle Billingsley live and create together in the Hamilton community.
The final design, titled Expressions of Power, will be painted on a second utility box located at the corner of High Street and MLK Blvd. in Hamilton. This design celebrates the power, joy and creativity of women and girls in our community. The artwork was created by Anissa Pulcheon, an artist and illustrator from Cincinnati.