July 10 Public Art Commission meeting
Covered by Documenter Jess Fijalkovich (see their notes here)
Correction: Tara Mosely-Weems, a City Council member at the time, was involved in organizing the Black Lives Matter mural, along with Art x Love and other volunteers. Akron City Council was not directly involved.
Update: Since the July 10 Public Art Commission meeting, organizers have moved away from a July 27 date and are hoping to do the restoration work in August. Love said that they are also open to restoring an outline of the mural this summer and completing a full restoration of the mural next spring.
Love said in an email to Signal Akron that the group is seeking to raise up to $3,000 to pay the artists and to expand the mural to the vacant structure on the west side of North Howard Street.
Funding so far has come from sales of limited edition Akron BLM Mural prints, with 100% of the proceeds donated by Art x Love to the project. Love said they have been working since 2021 to restore the mural.
Mac Love, co-founder of Art x Love, attended a July 10 Public Art Commission (PAC) meeting to discuss restoring the Black Lives Matter mural in Akron’s Cascade Valley. The mural, on North Howard Street between North and Cuyahoga streets near Lock 15 Brewery Company, was originally painted on the road in 2020.
Because the mural was completed prior to the formation of the PAC, there were questions at the meeting about whether the restoration needed to be approved again. Love said he learned the project did not need approvals from the commission, but that it did need to be presented again when they were ready to move forward. The mural is on city-owned property and does not require any approvals from city officials, he added.
Organizers, including then-City Council Member Tara Mosley-Staples, developed the painting project in 2020 after the police murder of George Floyd. It was painted four days after Akron resident Na’Kia Crawford was fatally shot near the mural’s location. Mosley asked Love to form a Black-led group of artists to design the mural.
It was the first Black Lives Matter street mural in the state, Love told the members of the commission. Akron’s street mural was completed June 18, 2020, with groups in Cincinnati and Cleveland completing theirs the following days. Cincinnati organizers updated their mural in 2023.
WATCH the July 10 Public Art Commission meeting here. ATTEND the commission’s next meeting on Aug. 14. Learn more here.
Original mural artists ready to help
The four artists who helped design the original mural — Nichole Epps, April Couch, Alexandria Couch, and Gyasi Jones — expressed interest in returning to restore the project.
In its current condition, the mural is still visible, but viewers have to be at ground level, up close. “It used to be visible from very far away coming all the way down Howard Street or from Northside,” Love said.
The creators of the mural used street paint, which can last three to five years. But because this is a heavily salted area in the winter, Love said restoration is needed every three or four years.
Love asked the PAC about closing North Howard Street for one day to complete the work, aiming for July 27. Love is working with city officials to confirm that date.
Clarification: This was the first Black Lives Matter street mural in the state, according to organizer Mac Love, not the first mural of any kind.