Public Art in Kent

Find Your Path by Eileen Dorsey

Eileen Dorsey studied fine art at Kent State University under Charles Basham, who left a lasting impression on her work, culminating in a joint exhibition at the Massillon Museum of Art. She won Cleveland Scene’s Best Artist in 2020 and 2018, and Cleveland Magazine’s Best Artist in 2021, 2020 and 2019. Her artist statement about this mural reads:

Walking around the downtown area, it’s easy to see that Kent has an appreciation for nature. There is a beautiful Portage Hike and Bike trail right around the corner from the mural. There are public art pieces in the downtown area that are also nature inspired. Being a graduate of KSU, I felt right at home. I am thrilled to add my signature style to the city. Why trees? I have always felt a deep appreciation for nature while walking through the woods near my home. The colors, the sounds, the smells, they all change once you immerse yourself in a forest, it’s like being in another world. I suppose, I was drawn to this. The more I explored, the more I would notice. I would see the sun light flicker through the leaves. The shadows the trees would cast on the ground, sometimes they appeared blue, sometimes red. When I looked onto the trees, I would see the reflections of the colors around them. These once brown barked trees seem blue and purple. I was hooked. I took these experiences and brought them back to the studio. I have been focusing on creating work that opens the eyes of the viewer to see their world in a more colorful way. Because the park is so close, I didn’t want to exactly mimic nature, so I painted this in a slightly different way than my studio work. I used broad flat shapes to describe bunches of leaves. I drew with spray paints and used its marks to create the illusion of grass and rolling hills. The mural is all spray paint, with the exception of the squirrels, those are painted with latex paint. I hid 3 black squirrels (in purple) in the mural ☺
The meaning behind the title. Find your path refers to the young people who are starting their futures. It also hints toward an actual path, perhaps in the woods, or along the river trail just around the corner.

KENT by Sean Mercer & Taryn McMahon

Main Street Kent has installed a new KENT public art piece on N. Water St. in downtown Kent, just before the Fairchild bridge. A dream project of the Main Street Kent design committee, members Alex Catanese and Lesley Sickle took the reins and brought this project to life. Partnering with Each + Every design studio in Kent, the team worked with local artist Sean Mercer to design and fabricate the structure and artist Taryn McMahon to design the graphics displayed inside the letters of the structure. A grant was secured from Ohio Arts Council to help pay for the project, Each + Every provided in-kind support as well as a substantial donation, and Main Street Kent utilized funds from recent fundraisers including the “Something’s Got to GIVE” art show hosted last summer at Troppus Projects. Visitors to the structure are encouraged to share pictures on social media using the hashtag #kentohart and to take a self-guided walking tour of the other public art attractions in Kent by visiting mainstreetkent.org/walking-tours

Marvin Kent by Maya Culley

Artist Maya Culley painted a gorgeous mural in the alleyway between the Woodsy’s and Skullz Salon buildings. Culley’s concept was to combine some of her favorite aspects of Kent, a mixture of city and nature. Visuals of figures and geometric shapes were used to represent the city, while plants such as the milkweed flower found in the Kent bog were used to represent nature. She also used the bog as inspiration for the abstract images on the doorways. Culley also focused on the theme of “new Kent vs. old Kent”. She referenced Kent’s rich history with the image of Marvin Kent while adding modern colors and organic shapes to relate to the current growth of the city.

“My sister read about this project in the newspaper and brought it to my attention. I was very excited and began the process by sketching out several designs in my notebook along with a color pallet. Then I took a few high quality photographs of the alley. Using an editing program, I drew over the images with my Wacom drawing tablet. We matched paint colors mostly by eye, comparing them to my original design. We used a projector in the evenings to draw some of the elements. Other sections were done with masking tape or drawn free-hand. I had an unfortunate slip and broke my foot mid-project so I am grateful for the extra help and support to complete the project. My family has lived in Kent all my life and I would love to leave my mark. I had a lot of fun creating my concept and I hope you enjoy it too!”