Friday, August 23, 2013

Something old, something new

When I left my hometown, Toledo, Ohio, downtown was a mess. It still is. At least, the side West of the Hi-Level and MLK bridges is. However, when I came home this summer, the East side of downtown, amazingly called Old South End, had been remade. The buildings were all the same, but there were murals everywhere. When I saw the first one, I just thought it was very beautiful art in form of vandalism. We drove on and found a lot more. When you touch the paintings, you can still feel the chips and cracks in the brick beneath. It's a way of making something old new again. It gives back to the culture and society. 

I know for a fact that I prefer the murals to the bland, peeling canvases that the buildings once were.

I tried to find pictures of old Old South End, but was unable to do so. The below pictures are of a few the murals which I took pictures of while riding around. It was the only way to get the full images of some of them with my phone. 

The painting is still going on now. More pictures and info can be found about the project here http://www.toledoblade.com/Art/2012/09/02/Dazzling-murals-light-up-Old-South-End.html






1 comment:

Earl Grey said...

It's wonderful to recognize new art in a familiar place. Projects such as this can transform neighborhoods, and they can also help us to appreciate all that we have in place already. Thanks for the post, Breanna. I look forward to hearing more!