Turning asphalt into art: Murals are painted on two crosswalks

by Mark Jahne

Editor

It is a first step in what is hoped will be many to establish public works of art around town.

The Town Council recently approved a plan to paint brightly colored murals on two crosswalks in the government district. Mayor Allan Smith and the nonprofit arts group he founded called Rocky Hill Arts Now got the idea from crosswalk murals that decorate Main Street in downtown Middletown.

Smith stepped down as the chairperson of RHAN when he was elected mayor but he remains a member and remains a strong proponent of public art. The organization is working with Connecticut muralist Kendall Soliwoda.

Public input was sought before making the decision to paint crosswalks near Town Hall. One of them is a sidewalk on Church Street that runs between the Rocky Hill Library and the post office. The other is within the Town Hall parking lot.

KRS Art Studio also painted a dinosaur track mural on this Church Street crosswalk between the Rocky Hill Library and the post office.

“We looked at a bunch of locations around Town Hall. People said they wanted to keep things simple,” Smith said.

The first challenge was to revise the town’s policy that public art displays must be limited to the park system. That required legislative action.

“The Town Council amended the public art policy earlier this year,” the mayor said.

He said Republican council members abstained from voting to change the policy. He recused himself because of his affiliation with RHAN. The motion passed 5-0 with all the yes votes coming from council Democrats.

The new policy expands the possible locations beyond the parks including the municipal center that features Town Hall, the library, community center, post office, Fire Station 1 and the police department.

Muralist Kendall Soliwoda and his wife Chantelle make up the KRS Art Studio business. They are standing alongside a nearly finished crosswalk of different-colored hearts they painted in the parking area outside Town Hall.

Smith said the locations were selected, in part, because of the ease of access.

“It will allow us to paint it without having to block traffic on a public road,” he said of the Town Hall mural. “It’s a rainbow and colored hearts design. We wanted something unique. The color scheme is consistent with Pride flags. It’s highly visible.”

The crosswalk between the library and post office pays tribute to part of local history.

“The design the artist came up with was dinosaur footprints,” Smith said. “We’re really excited about it.”

He sees this initiative as just the start of establishing more public art in the center of town and perhaps elsewhere. The Rocky Hill Fire Department will celebrate its 100^th anniversary next year and the mayor hopes to secure grant funding to create art that honors volunteer firefighters.

“We have put historic photos on the exterior of the historical society. The [Rocky Hill Congregational] Church is looking at doing an art installation on their property,” Smith said.

His long-term goal is to make this town a destination for public art.

Muralist Kendall Soliwoda and his wife Chantelle were at Town Hall July 11 to paint the first mural, a row of colorful hearts intended to celebrate inclusion. Their business is called KRS Art.

“We do murals around Connecticut. We just did a 100-foot mural in Waterbury for the Waterbury PAL” (Police Athletic League), Kendall said.

KRS Art has been in business for 15 years and painted murals on Main Street in Middletown. One of them celebrates military veterans and includes the word “welcome.” Another is painted in the theme of the Pride flag.

The artist uses a special paint that is slip resistant and holds up well under the flow of traffic.

“It’s a great project,” Kendall said of the two Rocky Hill crosswalks. RHL