Mesa Urban Garden exists to be a community gathering place, and community doesn’t exist without art. When we first got started we wanted to encourage more art in downtown Mesa — which hadn’t had a new mural painted since 2006. Hoping to inspire more art in public spaces, we reached out to the Mesa Arts Center’s engagement team to see if there were opportunities to partner and experiment with art.
Mesa Arts Center’s current mission is: To inspire people through engaging arts experiences that are diverse, accessible, and relevant.
When community organizers approached Mesa Arts Center about an urban garden they were implementing, based on a community-driven social media campaign, that asked Mesa Citizens what they wanted, we felt a direct connection to the goals of this proposed project.
In general, 1st Ave presented a large blank canvas to be explored and creatively re-interpreted into a vibrant connector and center. The community south of Main Street has had a dearth of investment opportunities and is not well connected with the Downtown Mesa community. New investments such as the Mesa Arts Center, Benedictine University, Mesa Urban Garden provided an opportunity to be a catalyst for an explosion of community investment in the revitalization of 1st Ave if brought together with placemaking investments and activities.
“Community building” should strive to “increase the capacity of residents to live in a world composed of people different from themselves.” Creative economies succeed when they are part of a broader community initiative.
The investment of the Mesa Arts Center provided an opportunity to bring the community together through dynamic, engaging murals and create a sense of place in Mesa Urban Garden.
Kyllan Maney and Lauren Lee
The gardens first mural was created by Lauren Lee and Kyllan Maney to enhance and bring more attention to the Mesa Urban Garden site, which at that time was just a large, empty, dirt lot. The beds, gardens, trees, waterlines and more were merely a projected goal at that time. The Mesa Arts Center saw this as an opportunity to bring community together for a site that would ultimately serve some of our core goals for community of overall health and wellness. A community of citizens were brought together with the artists to discuss themes central to gardens and central to the citizens that were living in this downtown community. Ultimately not only did the artists come together in a collaborative piece that demonstrates the beauty of an urban garden, the community was able to interact in the public art making process.
Artists: Kyllan Maney and Lauren Lee
Year: 2012
Artist Links:
Kyllan Maney – https://www.instagram.com/kyllanmaney/
Lauren Lee – https://www.instagram.com/mslaurenlee/
Lauren Lee
After our first signature mural in the garden, Lauren Lee presented the MUG committee with a typography centric mural for the garden. This mural would focus and reflect the vibrant array of colors that could be found in a garden and features the words GROW.
Artist: Lauren Lee
Year: 2013
Artist Links:
Lauren Lee – https://www.instagram.com/mslaurenlee/
Joseph Sentrock Perez
Joseph Sentrock Perez led the next mural creation. After conversations with MUG Board Members and collaboration with a local high school visual arts club, Sentrock brought to life our second mural, directly interpreting the garden scene and creating a new “brand” of logo for MUG on the wall. In addition to the mural, Sentrock presented an entrepreneurship class with 12 local high school visual art club students. This presented us with the opportunity to extend the mural process into the community and connect students with practicing mural artists, that first fell in love with the mural-making process, after a muralist attended his elementary school for a residency program.
Artist: Joseph ‘Sentrock’ Perez
Year: 2014
Artist Links:
Sentrock – https://www.instagram.com/sentrock/
Breeze
Phoenix-born artist Thomas “Breeze” Marcus came to our attention, based on his mural art camp work with Salt River Pima-Maricopa community. Central themes discussed for this mural, were the reflection of the desert, the mountains, and Breeze’s own heritage.
Artist: Thomas “Breeze” Marcus
Year: 2014
Artist Links:
Breeze- https://www.instagram.com/breeze1phx/
JB Snyder
To celebrate our third year, MUG hosted an event featuring some of Arizona’s finest visual artists and musicians. HortiCultured, presented by Media Tempe (the folks who brought you Tempe Art-a-Gogh Gogh) and James B. Hunt (A.K.A. NXOEED) have put together a show with a light horticultural theme that they feel will honor their surroundings. JB Snyder attended and asked to paint a wall — we were honored and obliged!
Artist: JB Snyder
Year: 2015
Artist Links:
JB Snyder – https://www.instagram.com/jb_snyder/
Dandelion Girl
One of the most surprising murals at MUG is the dandelion girl. One of our board members was approached by a neighbor who said they were very interested in painting a mural — and had never before. We offered an out-of-the-way corner of the garden to allow him to experiment with his craft. Painting at odd hours of the day, most of us never met him or saw him paint. But he left one of the most incredible mural and unexpected pieces of art. We’re still not sure how exactly to credit his work — according to our past board member, he’s moved overseas and has no social media!
Artist: Juan
Year: 2015