LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – Another piece of downtown is being beautified with an elaborate mural.
A rather dull wall at the Capital Area District Libraries downtown branch is being transformed with a collaborative mural created in part by Lansing’s youth. First conceived of by CADL and local art organization Muralmatics several years ago, the library mural project is finally getting off the ground. The finished mural will be based on a poem written by Lansing poet Keyante Saxon, Hunt said. “Keyante, with the students’ input, created a poem together. We’re embedding it into the entire mural; it will read across the whole piece,” Hunt said. Today, the mural is still under construction. The phase it’s in now is referred to as a “scribble grid.” The young artists are practicing with spray paint by writing various haikus onto the wall. The process is supposed to help create a visual guide and map for when it’s time to create the final piece of mural artwork.
“It’s a traditional square grid when you’re going from a small design to a large surface. But instead of measuring and leveling squares, we created haikus. The haikus are reference points for us to figure where to draw in our design,” Hunt said. Hunt said the library is elated to redesign the wall, which previously had a dubious nickname thanks to its faded brown color. “It’s a long time coming. The library is very excited to see this wall transformed into something else,” Hunt said.
