“Tapestries Lakeland”, an Un-Mural Art Exhibition

Artists were commissioned to create the “Un-Murals”.  They’re called un-murals, because a mural is defined as a painting or art executed directly on a wall. The painted un-mural tapestries are not.  They’re painted on over sized canvas tarpaulins then attached to walls. The largest ones are 10 by 12 feet.

The project’s aims are to promote quality works of Street Art in Lakeland and enhance the value of three urban areas, Downtown, Midtown and Dixieland.

There was no specific theme that artists had to conform to when creating their concepts.  The artwork had to fit harmoniously into the urban environment of Lakeland and was to be politically and ideologically neutral.  The Un-murals are designed to entertain, cause interaction and provoke thought.

The tapestries are a continuation of my passion for public art.  It began with chalk art paintings on sidewalks, a 10 foot mural painted on pallet wrap stretched between trees at the Citrus Connection terminal, stretch wrapping and painting ten trees in vibrant colors, wrapping and painting all the light poles in downtown, painting abandoned stumps and murals on neglected store fronts, painting a giraffe measuring 20 feet tall and a menagerie on a stretch wrapped tree in Munn Park, to  creating “Clearly People”, a packaging tape sculpture exhibition.  “Clearly People” was my largest public art exhibition to date, but . . . Go Big or Go Home, “Tapestries – Lakeland” will be larger.

  • 43 artists participated.
  • They created 65 painted tapestries.
  • 43 tapestries were painted by professional artists who were paid for their contributions.   22 student or emerging artists were allowed to participate and were given the necessary materials to participate.  Students were from, Harrison School for the Aarts, Florida Southern College and Polk State.

“Tapestries Lakeland debuted at an artist’s reception on November 02, 2018 and have been installed on buildings.  It will be on exhibit until January 2020.  A Google walking map of the installations will soon be available.

The public art exhibition was funded by The Lakeland CRA – Community Redevelopment Agenc, The Lakeland DDA – Downtown Development Authority, the Citrus Connection, Michael Maguire, Broadway Real Estate Services, Heacock Insurance, the Sanoba law Firm and through the generosity of others.  In total $35,790.00 was raised of which $27,653 was paid to artists.  The balance of funds collected were used for material and installation costs.