Feeling Artsy? Help Finish Myrtle’s Mural

[ takeaway: murals brings community; and they're fun ]

Wanted: local painters, no artistic training required.

Tomorrow the Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project and the South of Navy Yards Artists will roll out brushes, pencils and buckets of paint for the young, and young at heart, to put the final brush strokes on a community mural.

Since last Sunday, local residents have been adding their artistic flair to the 80-foot stretch of wooden fencing that surrounds the gaping hole left by the collapse of a Myrtle Avenue building on June 21. What could have been an eyesore is now a collage of blue, gray, purple, green, red and white mixed with drawings of everything from hearts to peace signs to faces.

“Collaboratively painting large scale murals like this allow the whole community to come together to create something,” said Ellie Balk, a SONYA board member who is supervising the project. “Kids and parents paint together and can walk by later and take ownership of the whole mural. I love to hear people walk by and say, ‘I did that!’”

The mural is part of the Move About Myrtle project that MARP started on Sept. 7, closing off seven blocks along Myrtle Avenue to create temporary, vehicle-free public space on Sundays in September. Tomorrow is the last day of the street closing.

“We organize a number of different activities to take place during the event to ‘program’ this new public space,” said Meredith Phillips Almeida, director of community Development for MARP, which is marking its 10th year. “And this mural is one of those activities.”

Organizers see the mural as an opportunity to build and strengthen a sense of community through painting. Business owners, as well as residents, are appreciating the locally made art.

For Chong Kim, owner of the J. Love Gift Shop on Myrtle Avenue, the opportunity to share art is cause for celebration.

“It is very beautiful,” said Mr. Kim, who brought his grandchildren to see the mural last Sunday. “You see everybody painting with the kids.”

Read the full story: Feeling Artsy? Help Finish Myrtle’s Mural – The Local – Fort-Greene Blog – NYTimes.com By Ines Bebea