City hears plea to save downtown mural from planned apartment project

Photo by Richard Gwin

File photo: Artist David Loewenstein's mural honoring black Kansans was unveiled Wednesday Sept. 17, 2007.

Before developers can start construction on a seven-story, downtown apartment building, city commissioners want them to deal with a more ground-level problem how to save a prominent mural on a building slated to be demolished by the project.

Commissioners directed a development group led by Lawrence businessmen Doug Compton and Mike Treanor to have discussions with interested members of the arts community about how a 2007 mural by noted Lawrence artist Dave Loewenstein can be saved near the northeast corner of Ninth and New Hampshire streets.

It really is an important piece of art for the entire state of Kansas, Susan Earle, curator at Kansas Universitys Spencer Museum of Art said of the piece, which is entitled Pollinators, and features seven black artists who have ties to Kansas.

The art museum commissioned the mural in 2007. Earle said the museum has had preliminary discussions with the development group about saving the approximately 20 by 80 foot mural.

The mural is on the northern wall of the former Black Hills Energy building at the northeast corner of Ninth and New Hampshire streets. The building could be torn down later this year to make way for a 114-unit apartment building.

Commissioners at their weekly meeting stopped short of saying they would require the mural to be saved before giving the project its final approval. But they said the issue was a serious one.

A discussion about the mural cant be put off, Mayor Mike Dever said. I want to see what it would take to move the wall or reproduce it, as a worst-case scenario.

Several mural supporters said they wanted to see if the wall could be left in its current location and incorporated into the design of the building.

Here is the original post:
City hears plea to save downtown mural from planned apartment project