Lauren Justice
‘Awakening’ is the result of a collaborative design process facilitated by Sustain Dane.
A hardscrabble neighborhood is envisioning a better future, embodied in a beautiful mural unveiled last Friday.
Titled “Awakening,” the painted mural on the side of the Salvation Army building in the Darbo-Worthington neighborhood on Madison’s east side was painted by local children and neighborhood members.
The project was directed by local artist Sharon Kilfoy with support from the Madison Arts Commission, Dane Arts, the Wisconsin Arts Board and the Salvation Army. With a swirling palette of blues, greens and yellows, it represents a child dreaming of a neighborhood filled with blooming nature and human activity.
The mural project was spearheaded by Sustain Dane’s smART program. Lauren Beriont, director of the Sustainable Neighborhoods Initiative, says the process of working on the mural has strengthened ties in the community. “Collectively, they have identified their neighborhood vision and come together to paint it, to celebrate it and lastly to make it happen.”
Rather than rely on the vision of a professional artist, the mural was a collaborative effort — both in its conception and its creation. Sustain Dane facilitated neighborhood meetings where Darbo-Worthington residents shared thoughts and images of what they felt represented their community. Kilfoy was given the lists of ideas and sorted through them to look for common themes. In the process, she says, Worthington Park came up time and time again: “There was value in what it represented, peacefulness and majesty in those trees. It was also a metaphor of this gathering place where the community could come together and have a chance for peace and solitude.”
Following the success of the Darbo-Worthington community mural, Sustain Dane is now working on a mural at Zion City Community Outreach Center on the south side with the first ever Dane Mural Arts (DAMA) program. Kilfoy is again working with community members, helping residents create visual depictions of healthy, happy communities. The DAMA program plans to paint three to four buildings a year, while training artists and low-income youth in mural arts.
Kilfoy says these efforts convey that neighborhoods matter. “You deserve to have a big major piece of art as part of your neighborhood; you are as important as downtown, State Street or Willy Street; your neighborhood matters, and you believe in yourselves, and we believe in you too.”
In the end, those working on the mural projects hope that art will beautify underserved neighborhoods while training young artists and ultimately creating positive change through community engagement.
