August Wilson Tribute Mural by MLK Community Murals

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This mural is done in honor of Pulitzer Award winning, African–American playwright August Wilson. Born Frederick August Kittel in 1945, he took the pen name August Wilson when he was twenty and began his writing career. Initially he worked at being a poet, but in 1979 his career as a successful playwrite began.

August Wilson’s Plays

• 1979 Jitney
• 1982 Ma Rainey̵s Black Bottom
• 1983 Fences, which earned his first Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award
• 1984 Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
• 1986 The Piano Lesson, earned the second Pulitzer Prize
• 1990 Two Trains Running
• 1995 Seven Guitars
• 2001 King Hedley II
• 2003 Gem of the Ocean
• 2005 Radio Golf

Mr Wilson’s ten plays are a series, known as The Pittsburgh Cycle. Each of these plays is set in a different decade of the twentieth century, where he depicts life as an African–American here. Nine of his plays are set in the Hill District, where this mural now stands in his honor.

Along the bottom of the mural are ten scenes. Each created to represent one of the plays. These images are the portion of the mural done by young artists as a summer work program. They learn art and painting from established artists and spend their summer doing something that beautifies their neighborhood and educates us all.

We found so much symbolism crammed into every corner on this mural. Some of the people passing by did not know who August Wilson was, and as we discussed his accomplishments and pointed out some of the images in the mural, they seemed as fascinated as we were. That shows promise that the mural will do it’s job in educating more Pittsburghers about this talented writer.

Converted this close up to black and white to make it easier to read.

A Scene from a Garden by multiple artists

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This is one of two Oakland murals done in 2013 by the Green Team of the Oakland Planning and Development Corporation, in partnership with the MLK Community Mural Project.

An article in the Oakland Planning and Development Corporation’s newsleter said residents decided the tone of the murals. They wanted a tranquil feel that reflected their vision for a greener Oakland. The newsletter quotes one of the young artists as saying I think the mural represents how the Oakland community has become more natural. The tree within the mural represents life and growth in Oakland.

In that same article we read that lead artist Olga Brinda used photos of her mother’s garden to create the final design.

Mural of a Park Scene by multiple artists

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One of two murals done in this neighborhood in 2013 that was sponsored by the Green Team of the Oakland Planning and Development Corporation (OPDC), and executed by local youth with the leadership and guidance of the MLK Community Mural Project.

According to the OPDC newsletter, the residents wanted a tranquil scene, and this design produced a very peaceful view. A snapshot of a day in a park. Perhaps Schenley Park?

Allentown Mural Asteroid Way by Lucas Stock

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This mural was along the route for the 2013 Pedal Pittsburgh ride, but it was positioned so it was behind you as you rode past it – so it was easily missed. On the return leg of the ride, which passed about a block north, the bright colors jumped out immediately from across a vacant lot. When I stopped at an intersection, a lady standing there with her son noticed where my attention was focused and told me that it was a new mural. She said they had gone over to look at it and thought the subject of it was Puerto Rico.

We had received an email about this mural so I already knew that the themes (provided by the artist, Lucas Stock) were historic landmarks, unique architecture, stained glass art, ethnic and religious symbolism and neighborhood diversity. The artist hadn’t mentioned anything specific about Puerto Rico, but now looking closely at the mural, I could see what looked like the Puerto Rican flag on the right side.

One of the perks of getting directly in touch with an artist is hearing or seeing some of the insight on the design process. In this case, Mr Stock shared some photos he took to document that process:

A pencil sketch of the original design. Photo by Lucas Stock

The filled in sketch. Photo by Lucas Stock

The final product. Photo by Lucas Stock

Pittsburgh Jazz History Mural by multiple artists

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This mural is not just a history of jazz greats, it’s a history of Pittsburgh jazz greats! Can you feel your city pride swelling when you realize the breadth of talent that came from our own neighborhoods?

Top left in the mural is Stanley William Turrentine, also known as Mr T or The Sugar Man

Stanley Turrentine and the Penn Incline

To the right of Stanley Turrentine is Ray Brown, a Grammy award winning base musician.

Ray Brown

Below and right of Ray Brown is George Benson, the man that had the first platinum jazz album.

George Benson

David Roy Eldridge or Little Jazz is considered one of the most important virtuoso trumpeters in the history of jazz.

Roy Eldrige

Composer and self–taught pianist Errol Garner was a musical genius, possibly best known for composing Misty.

Errol Garner

Art Blakey started out playing piano until Errol Garner bumped him over to the drums. He found his nitch there becoming an award winning jazz drummer.

Art Blakey

Lena Horne is the only one of this talented group that is not a native of the ’Burgh. She did, however, move here when she was 18 to live with her father for several years.

Lena Horne

The posts in front of this mural are also painted, making them less of a distraction:

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A Civil Rights Mural by Multiple Artists

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Multiple artists: Kemel Poindexter, Abdula, Andrea Cunningham, Addul-Fattah, Malig Hazlip, Shyaire Howard, Abdur-Rahman, Malcolm Walker, Michael Williams, Eric Worlds. July/Aug 2013.

We stopped by to get some preliminary information while the artists were still working on this one. Once they finished we returned for more photos to show some of the details.

This is another of the MLK Community Murals, where an artist works with neighborhood kids to do a lot more than create public art. The kids are hired for several weeks to work on the project. In most of the murals done by the MLK organization, the kids have been allowed to do only a little bit in the way of design additions. A small figure or character added here or there... but no major design input. That changed with this project. The artist supervising this mural, Kemel Poindexter, explained that his student artists were each given space to design and create something with meaning to them. There are ten rectangles along the bottom of the mural where those designs are coming to life. But that wasn’t the only design input this group of young artists had. While they were working on this mural they heard the trial verdict regarding the death of Travon Martin and wanted to create a tribute to the teen. The image of Travon Martin is now the centerpiece of the mural and the image of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr is going to be moved from the top (where Travon’s hoodie is), to another location on the mural.

UPDATE: When we stopped by on both 11 and 16 Aug 2013 the mural was not yet completed, but several changes in the design had been made. As previously mentioned, the artists had decided that Travon’s hoodie should should be complete and so they re–positioned the image of Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

The image of the Reverend is now on the left side by Mr Bill Strickland and Jordan Miles.

The mural’s theme is civil rights and includes people that have made an impact on that. Some of them have been leaders and inspirational figures. Sadly, some included on this mural are here because they were victims. What happened to them focused the community and/or the nation on the civil rights violations that continue to occur. As we approach the 50th anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s I have a dream speech we see images here that make us feel that it is still only a dream. Thankfully, we also see images here that give a sense of hope that the dream is slowly (sometimes excruciatingly slowly) getting a foothold in reality.

The artists were still adding to the right side of the mural. Kyle Holbrook (founder of MLK Community Murals) explained that the door is the doorway to history. Some of the leaders they’ve included here are Malcom X, Shaka Zulu, and Booker T. Washington.

Along the bottom of the mural is where the kids were given their own creative space.

Oct 2013
We returned to see the finished mural and there were several changes.

On the left side of the mural we found the addition of Medgar Evers, a WWII veteran and prominent Mississippi civil rights activist. Mr Evers was known for the sayings: Violence is not the way. and You can kill a man, but you can’t kill an idea. He was murdered in 1963 – shot in the back by a cowardly, white segregationist who managed to escape conviction for the crime for almost 31 years. His death helped to rally support for the Civil Rights Act the following year.