New public art near the Enmarket Arena spurs exciting, future possibilities for the area

Early in the pandemic, I spent a day touring Savannah’s limited but vibrant landscape of public art.

After the recent reopening of West Gwinnett Street, I decided to check out the public art around the Enmarket Arena. There will come a day when the area is a destination for local residents even if there is no event at the arena itself, but that day is not here yet.

Still, visitors can get a sense of potential uses of the space by looking closely at the first large walkway mural on the vast expanse of pavement south of the arena. The artistic team of Xavier "Zay" Hutchins, Nae'Keisha Jones, Alfredo Martinez and Brian MacGregor explored the theme of “pathways” and incorporated a canal into their colorful mural, which includes nods to neighborhood landmarks.

Unplugged: A quick tour of Savannah’s public art landscape

Reporting on Water Works mural: First artists of the Water Works mural at Enmarket Arena aim to open public art pathways

The Art Scene: Savannah could promote public art and engage with the community by painting some dogs

The City of Savannah’s request for proposals for the walkway art noted that the four murals would be considered temporary installations, but that they would all remain on view for at least one year and “should be painted as if permanent.”

Probably due to unnecessary bureaucratic complications, the progress on the murals is running well behind the original timeline in the RFP. Don’t be surprised if the first mural is a year old by the time the entire walkway is completed.

The Art Scene: Pedestrian fatalities continue to be a problem in Savannah. Could creative crosswalks help?

First City Progress: Gwinnett Street opens in west Savannah, Stiles Avenue work ramps up

I don’t know whether murals on the pavement will prove viable over the long run, but the vast amount of space near the parking lots and along the canal invites speculation about other installations, both permanent and temporary. The opportunities will come into sharper focus when the area feels less like a massive construction site.

And the opportunities will become clearer when city officials have a clear plan for the magnificent 1892 Water Works building.

W Projects, an experiential marketing agency that has been working on activation of the Water Works site, recently installed 10 compelling, large-scale photos in boarded-up windows of the old structure. The images, which tell stories of earlier days on Savannah’s west side, invite closer scrutiny, but I’d caution that folks should be wary of uneven ground and other potential hazards around the building.

There seems little point in major conservation work on the Water Works at this point, but I was still surprised to see so many plants growing in the brick facades. It was worth walking closer, however, just to appreciate both the building’s scale and its many fine architectural details.

W Projects is still working on the site, so I hope that soon there will be elements that create more context for the photos. Extensive signage might be problematic, and city officials probably don’t even want people getting too close to the building, but a QR code that leads to more information about the images would seem an obvious option.

Similar to the murals, the photos spur the imagination regarding creative uses of the new public spaces. The possibilities are exciting.

Bill Dawers writes the City Talk column for the Savannah Morning News. He can be reached via citytalksavannah@gmail.com and @billdawers on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah GA arts: Enmarket Arena mural, Water Works building history