Our murals program is more than just paint on a wall. Often, the mural is just the start of a grander vision. Such is the case for a recent project in the Eden Park neighborhood.
Eden Park is located in the 70802 zip code and includes the area surrounding the massive Roselawn Cemetery. The visionaries for the neighborhood project are Linnea and Curtis Howard, owners of the New Look Neighborhood Grocery Store.
“They commissioned their self-built retention wall for a mural in the pocket park they own and created on 38th & Cain Street,” explains Morgan Udoh, Mural Arts Senior Program Coordinator for The Walls Project.
The mural was completed earlier this year. The second phase of the project seems far removed from art but is actually very familiar territory for The Walls Project.
“Once the beautification was completed, they wanted to add a garden bed as well in order to grow fresh produce for their ‘free’ bins and to incorporate into the hot meals that they serve on-site,” Udoh adds. “The garden is located on a plot behind the store.”
Bright and early at 8 a.m. on Sunday, September 11, around a dozen volunteers, gathered at the location to build out two large beds. Cinder blocks stacked three levels high were used for the foundation.
“The goal was to make the garden accessible to everyone in the neighborhood, so we made them tall so people would not have to bend over as much,” Udoh notes. “There’s a large number of senior citizens in the neighborhood and we want this to be easy for them.”
Now that the beds are built and filled with fresh soil, the Baton Roots team will come in and add irrigation to make it sustainable. Once that’s in place, there will be another volunteer work day to plant items in the garden.
To keep up with volunteer opportunities, make sure to follow The Walls Project's event page, on social media, and on Give Pulse.