Year-round color: A walking tour of near-East Side wall art
Zach Bartel's Tranquil Tattoo mural.
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The shades of fall can make a walk through the city feel more like an exercise in natural-art appreciation. But long after the torrential downpours of autumn strip the trees bare, an abundance of color will still radiate from murals scattered throughout Madison's near-East Side. The A.V. Club is planning a walking tour now to admire some public art before it gets too cold.
Atwood Youth Center (2717 Atwood Ave.)
Daycare and middle-school kids put their heads together to envision and execute "Peaceable Jungle," which graces the outside of a daycare that used to reside at this location. In 2006, with the help of Sharon Kilfoy, director of the Williamson Street Art Center, the children created a vibrant and welcoming jungle scene, as well as a gnarly volcano, next to the words "Atwood is the hottest." Kilfoy has left her mark on a lot of other works in the area, including the mural on the Wil-Mar Center (painted in 2003) and the brand-new celebration of Willy Street in the '70s, which was just recently installed outside the Social Justice Center (at the corner of Williamson and Few Streets). Sadly, "Peaceable Jungle" has been living on borrowed time ever since the youth center relocated to the Goodman Center building few years ago.
Tranquil Tattoo (1900 E. Washington Ave.)
Unofficially referred to as "Support Your Local Artists," this amazing Rust-Oleum mural has no title, according to artist Zach Bartel. Commissioned by Tranquil Tattoo in 2007, this huge work incorporates several different tattoo styles into its design. The original concept had a tattoo gun putting the finishing touches on a woman's elaborate back piece, but apparently the city asked that that part of the design be removed, Bartel tells The A.V. Club. He has posted outlines of the original concept on his website.
Georgia O'Keeffe Middle School (510 S. Thornton Ave.)
According to the school's website, its name changed from Marquette Junior High to Georgia O'Keeffe Middle School in 1993. Kilfoy estimates it was about that time that the giant mural overlooking the playground took shape. With the help of several volunteers, Milwaukee artist Fernando Hernandez imagined and executed the peaceful-looking design, featuring a serious-looking O'Keeffe clutching a handful of paintbrushes. The cheerful painting leaves out much of the alleged vaginal imagery depicted in O'Keeffe's paintings, for obvious reasons.
Jamerica (1236 Williamson St., 608-251-6234)
Drivers on Willy Street might be lucky to catch a fleeting glimpse of this mural on the side of Jamerica, but travelers on foot can usually get a good look (if the restaurant's delivery van isn't filling up the narrow alley) at this tripped-out tropical landscape. Owner Martin Deacon said that a couple of guys (he couldn't remember their names) volunteered to do the work back in the summer of 2006, and that it took them about four hours to from start to finish. "I asked them to paint the Jamaican bobsled team," says Deacon, "But they had other ideas."
Mother Fool's Coffee House (1101 Williamson St.)
The ever-changing graffiti wall at Mother Fool's started in 2001 under the direction of local artist Don Wettach. Now two local tattoo artists, Billy McCoy and Rob Foster, run the wall, contributing designs and facilitating other artists' work. The wall changes every two weeks in the summer, once a month in the fall and spring, and once every two months in the winter. The only thing more mind-boggling than the pieces that grace the wall (see past designs here) is knowing how soon they'll disappear under new layers.
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