What writing on the wall? Wilmington seeks submissions for giant mural at new downtown park
With Bijou Park on downtown Wilmington's North Front Street nearing completion, The Arts Council of Wilmington & New Hanover County has begun a search for what it calls "the last piece of the park”: A large mural that will be among the most sizable downtown.
In a post on its website, the arts council said it "is interested in receiving applications from artists with experience and interest in collaborative, community-based mural projects."
Applications/proposals are due Jan. 1, 2023, with announcement of the winning design scheduled for Feb. 15, 2023. The mural is set to be installed in April, with anticipated completion by mid-May.
The maximum budget for the mural is $40,000, according to the announcement.
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The mural is part of the city of Wilmington's $600,000 renovation of Bijou Park, which is being transformed from a quiet nook with a few benches and lots of bushes into a kind of a gateway from Front Street leading to the fountain and steps that go through the River Place condos down to Water Street.
Large yellow, metal panels with a kind of see-through floral design have lined the park for a while now, and a large, banner-like sign proclaiming "Bijou Park" was installed a little more recently.
The future mural is bound to stand out, not only for its size but because there are so few murals downtown, as they are not generally permitted in the central business district.
Exceptions include the "Coastal Dolphins" mural on the north end of the Riverwalk painted by the artist Robert Wyland in the late 1990s, and Ryan Capron's popular "I Believe in Wilmington" artwork at Second and Princess streets, which isn't technically a mural but a large painting affixed to the wall.
The arts council's call for submissions said "the winning design will energize the site by highlighting its heritage and history while providing an attractive backdrop in the central business district."
The park gets its name from Wilmington's first movie theater, The Bijou, which was once located at the 225 N. Front St. site. The theater opened in a brand-new building to much fanfare in 1912, but even before there was a building, movies had been shown under a tent on the site since at least 1906 according to Beverly Tetterton's book "Wilmington: Lost But Not Forgotten."
The building that housed the Bijou movie theater was torn down in 1963. The only thing that remains from its days as a cinema is a rectangular section of tile flooring, spelling out "Bijou" in black letters on a white background.
Contact John Staton at 910-343-2343 or John.Staton@StarNewsOnline.com.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Wilmington Arts Council seeks submissions for mural in Bijou Park
