First Street near Central!

Steps
NJCRI, 393 Central Avenue
Newark Murals / Newark Public Art Program
Artists: Sue Daly and Kerry Dennehy
Community Partner: North Jersey Community Research Initiative (NJCRI)
Arts Administrator: City Without Walls & Barat Foundation

Created with an organization dedicated to empowering  clients by reducing social and health disparities in the greater Newark area, Steps depicts stories of clients and staff on the exterior of their building. The North Jersey Community Research Initiative (NJCRI) is one of New Jersey’s largest and most comprehensive HIV/AIDS community-based organization, and hosts programs including Project WOW, a drop-in center for LGBTQ youth. This mural helps tell their story to their city, and the city’s story to itself. This is Newark.

  

Artists Kerry Dennehy and Sue Daly, Art Administrators Chandri & Gary Barat of the Barat Foundation, and Newark Public Art Program Director Damon Rich worked with NJCRI stakeholders to identify stories and people as source material for the mural. The artist team, Rodney Gilbert, Pat Huizing, and Jackie Cruz of City Without Walls, and Newark Public Art Program Manager Perris Straughter brought the project to realization.

   

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Lincoln Park!

Emancipation of Music
Newark Murals / Newark Public Art Program
Artists: Armisey Smith, Malik Whitaker, and Rutgers-Newark students
Community Partners: Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District and Integrity House
Arts Administrator: Yendor Arts

 Music at the Dedication Ceremony provided by the drumming band from the Adelaide L. Sanford School.

The theme for Emancipation of Music is the history and contemporary culture of the Lincoln Park neighborhood, epitomized by African American music. The Lincoln Park area, once referred to as the Barbary Coast, was an African American business district that became a hub for jazz clubs and nightlife.  “When people think of the hottest cities of the Jazz Age and Swing Era, New York, Nashville, New Orleans, Memphis, Kansas City, and Chicago immediately spring to mind. But Newark, New Jersey was just as happening as each of these towns. On any given evening, you could listen to a legendary singer like Sarah Vaughn or laugh at the celebrated comedy of Red Foxx. Newark was a veritable maze of theaters, clubs, and after-hours joints where people like to have a good time. Many entertainment careers were launched in the City of Newark.” (Swing City: Newark Nightlife 1925-1950 by Barbara Kukla) Today, Lincoln Park is home to the Lincoln Park Music Festival, which attracts over 50,000 visitors and is one of Newark’s largest cultural events.

The mural celebrates Lincoln Park’s past and present by featuring images of a choir, musician Billie Holiday, who performed in Newark and of Sarah Vaughn and James Moody, who were from Newark and began their career here. The mural includes an image of a blues player to represent that genre and an image of a DJ to represent the genres of house and hip-hop which are the mainstays of the Lincoln Park Music Festival. The mural also depicts images referring to Africa and to slavery, a reference not only to African American people but specifically to the South Presbyterian Church which was once an abolitionist church.

Jesse Allen Park!

Getcha Mind Right
Jesse Allen Park, 66 Muhmmad Ali Avenue
Newark Murals / Newark Public Art Program
Artists: James Wilson, Malik Hardaway-Whitaker, and youth team
Community Partner: Friends of Jesse Allen Park
Arts Administrator: City Without Walls

A portion of the mural commemorates the great rent strike at the Stella Wright Houses between 1970 and 1974, when over 2000 people refused to pay rent in protest of their housing conditions.

   

Above left: Artist James Wilson with Central Councilman Darrin Sharif, in front of a scene of former Central Ward Councilman Jesse Allen, for whom the park is named. Above right: Youth team receive certificates of accomplishment.

Academy Street & University Ave!

It’s Just a Little Rain
77 Academy Street
Newark Murals / Newark Public Art Program
Artists: Ibrahim Ahmed III, Steve Green, and young people of Academy Street Firehouse Youth Program
Community Partner: St. Clare’s Social Service
Arts Administrator: City Without Walls

    

      

Newark Murals Tour

On October 8, Newark Public Art Program Director Damon Rich, Senior Program Advisor Rodney Gilbert, artists Gladys Barker Grauer and Melanie Stokes, and a dozen guests visited several recently completed and in-progress Newark Murals projects.

Almost done!

A Tribute to Newark Jazz Clubs
398 Hawthorne Avenue
Newark Murals / Newark Public Art Program
Artists: Gladys Grauer with Melanie Stokes
Community Partner: Early Childhood Development and Community Center
Art Administrator: City Without Walls

   

         

Save the date: Saturday, October 6 Newark Murals Tour

See the colors and patterns of Newark’s neighborhoods captured in public artworks throughout the city.

Newark Mural Tour

Saturday, October 6, 1-4 pm

Meet at City Without Walls, 6 Crawford Street

Tickets: $5

 

2012 Newark Murals Call for Walls

The Newark Public Art Program has issued the annual Newark Murals Call for Walls, soliciting ideas from Newark businesses, organizations, and residents for large, prominent, outdoor walls as sites for permanent public murals. Deadline: June 1. Download submission information here.