New murals in Newark to honor indigenous Hawaiian artist, Licking County women
Two murals near the downtown Newark library will add to Licking County's mural artwork.
According to a press release from the Licking County Library, central Ohio artist Curtis Goldstein was chosen to paint two murals on a building owned by the Licking County Library, which is located just west of the downtown Newark library entrance.
In 2019, Deputy Fiscal Office Kerrill Foster pitched the idea of adding murals to the garage to then LCL director Babette Wofter. Goldstein was chosen and the library received a grant from the Downtown Newark Preservation and Rehabilitation Program to help with costs.
"Ideas were exchanged until 2020 when the pandemic happened and thoughts of murals were subsumed by other things," Foster explained. "When things calmed down, I contacted Curtis again in February 2021 to find he had moved to Germany. He was more than willing to continue to work on the project from afar and we began the process again, moving the project to start after his return in 2022."
Goldstein began working on the first mural at the beginning of August, the organization said. The first mural, located on the west side of the building, will be titled Facing Future. The organization explained Goldstein borrowed the title from the title of an album by an indigenous Hawaiian singer, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.
"I see it as a way to honor an artist I admire," Goldstein said. "The theme of the mural and Kamakawiwo'ole's album share the juxtaposition of ancient, indigenous, and modern technology and culture, in the case of the mural, tools, trains and airplanes. Color, patterning, and directionality connect the elements that are separated by many centuries."
Work on the second mural, located on the east side of the building, is expected to begin in early September. The working title of the mural is The Beauty of Books, and it will feature six women who were Licking County residents and authors, poets or scientists.
The library said a main feature of the mural will be a cascading arch of books, which echoes their parking lot sculpture, and will span nearly the entire length of the wall. The rendering of the books will change from section to section, taking on a rainbow effect, they said.
"Each book will represent authentic titles available in the library collection, including those by or relating to the pictured authors' works," the library said.
For more information, visit LickingCountyLibrary.org.
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: New murals in Newark to honor indigenous Hawaiian artist
