The Lakeland Community Redevelopment Agency is looking for artists to paint a second set of murals on the concrete perimeter wall that surrounds the Talbot House Ministries homeless shelter. The Midtown Mini Murals Project is located on E. Parker Street and N. Tennessee Avenue.
The theme for Phase II is murals that demonstrate faith, hope or charity. The deadline to apply to paint a mural in Phase II of the project is Feb. 29.
“It’s going to showcase more artists and their capabilities. The murals are smaller, but so what? It helps to make the Talbot House a more attractive place,” said painter David Collins, 76, who is helping the CRA with the project. “We need lots of artists to apply. If we don’t have enough who apply, we may let artists do more than one.”
The perimeter wall has been divided into 20 panels, which are 57 inches tall and about eight to nine feet wide. Each panel will display a different mural.
Up to 10 artists could be selected during Phase II, and each participating artist will be paid $700, according to Collins. The $700 includes $100 for the concept sketch of the mural and $600 after the mural is completed. The CRA also supplies the artists with paint.
Collins believes this is a great opportunity for experienced artists, especially those who want to venture into mural painting.
“We have plenty of artists who maybe have never done a mural but they’re good artists.”
“You get your work out by putting it in public places. It will help to further the artists’ careers,” Collins said.
The CRA anticipates spending $9,500 on Phase II of the project, according to its manager, Valerie Ferrell.
Hope and diversity
The first phase of the project began in September and included African American artists who painted murals with themes of hope and diversity. These murals are on display on the N. Tennessee Avenue side of the perimeter wall.
Collins said Sallie Stone, owner of The Well, which is located across from the murals, approached him for help with launching the project.
“We didn’t have (many) Black artists doing murals in Lakeland,” recalled Collins, explaining that was the initial impetus for the project.
Collins said the selection committee is looking for artists who have a portfolio of work, and stressed that would be weighed heavily.
“The artist has to be competent. This is not a children’s artwork project or ‘let’s do something because it’s fun,’” Collins explained.
Ven Martin, 42, of Lakeland, was one of the artists selected to paint the first round of murals. The full-time artist said he competed in the Mayfaire-by-the-Lake fine arts festival as a kid.
“Any opportunity that comes up that has to do with the city that I grew up in, I’ve always got my eye on it,” said Martin.
Martin is painting three murals for the project. The first one he completed is purple and black, showcasing a mixture of a Pan-African and African mother donning a headwrap and beaded necklaces, meshed with themes of outer space. Another mural he’s worked on for the project symbolizes Black Love.
“What looks like a normal beach scene I really wanted to show the woman being coveted by him and the man over her with his arms around her to protect her. I wanted to incorporate God through the rays of sunshine and everything happening in the sky. I wanted her pose to be of femininity and his is more of masculinity,” said Ven Martin.
The last mural Martin is finishing celebrates his Jamaican roots.
“It’s a Jamaican flag with a rastafarian silhouette and sorrel,” Martin said, adding that sorrel is a punch drink he grew up drinking around the holidays.
Martin said it typically takes him a few days to complete a mural.
“It’s outdoors and the sun is difficult. It’s difficult because of the elements,” Martin said.
“It is gratifying when you finish it.”
Already, Martin said working on the mini mural project has led to him being hired to do other murals around town.
“Doing this, I’ve made connections with people that have just guided me towards new opportunities. They’ve shown me other avenues of art and other things that people are looking for with art that I’m fully capable of but haven’t thought of doing,” Martin explained, adding that he’s in negotiations to do a mural at a school.
The other artists selected to do the first round of mini-murals included Kent McAllister and Sam Butler, who is the son of one of the original 26 Florida Highwaymen, Robert Butler. Collins said Lesly “Jesse” Clark, a Black artist who recently graduated from the Ringling College of Art and Design, has already painted a mural on one of the panels on E. Parker Street.
The first phase of the project cost the CRA $7,000, according to Ferrell.
“Creating colorful, vibrant, public art that inspires hope, diversity and inclusion not only provides a fresh coat of paint, but also brings new life and color in the Midtown district…We are grateful for the partnership with Talbot House,” Ferrell said.
According to Ferrell, after completion of Phase II, the CRA may pursue Phase III, continuing the mini murals along N. Tennessee Ave to Plum Street with the partnership of Talbot House Ministries.
All of the murals in Phase II are expected to be completed by June.
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