News List | West Palm Beach, FL

New Public Artwork Put in at Coronary heart & Soul Park in Historic Northwest Community

Merging the past with the existing, the artworks’ narrative brings stories of the past to a new technology of residents and site visitors.

WEST PALM Seashore, FLORIDA (May well 18, 2022) – Producing a museum without walls, the City of West Palm Beach, via its ArtLife public artwork program, has set up 20 mosaic artworks at Coronary heart & Soul Park, found at 825 North Rosemary Avenue. These artworks notify the visual story of the Historic Northwest neighborhood’s rich history, even though having to pay tribute to the neighborhood’s community trailblazers and the jazz icons who played at the legendary Sunset Lounge adjacent to the park.

Adorning partitions, benches and park entry details, colorful mosaic tile artworks are integrated into the park’s design and style. The art follows the concept of the Sunset Lounge and its record. The mosaics were influenced, in component, by classic jazz posters and file handles.

Folks who contributed to the area’s abundant culture are celebrated in the artworks. Identified are historical figures, group influencers, or iconic musicians who played in the course of the jazz club’s heyday and include things like, but are not limited to, the next men and women:

• Count Basie, jazz pianist,
• Robert Saunders, who developed the Sunset Lounge in 1933,
• James Brown, singer,
• Louis Armstrong, trumpeter,
• Dr. Alice E. Moore, pioneer in Black schooling,
• Ray Charles, American singer-songwriter,
• Hazel Augustus, architect, and
• Dennis and Thelma Starks, Sunset Lounge homeowners

Merging the previous with the present, the narrative delivers stories of the previous to a new technology of residents and visitors. A QR code found at each and every of the artworks will help readers learn extra about the artwork on their cell system.

The artwork is the function of Elio Mercado, regarded as EVOCA1. Mercado is a Dominican-born figurative painter and muralist in South Florida. Self-taught, he received his art training from the compulsive review of the old masters’ performs and methods. He has participated in community art jobs and murals all over the globe. He is the founder of Mass + Nomads, LLC: Art for the Masses, a output studio and imaginative consultancy for public art techniques, which acquire complete community art initiatives for culturally pushed communities. 

“The Town of West Palm Beach front believes in the ability of public artwork to create connections, foster a favourable long run, and lead to an inclusive community discourse,” mentioned West Palm Beach Mayor Keith A. James. “Congratulations to EVOCA1 and his team for these stunning mosaic parts that rejoice the Historic Northwest’s character, culture, and heritage. Thank you to the ArtLife Committee, Administrator of Community Artwork and Lifestyle Sybille Welter, the Community Redevelopment Agency, and all who designed this attainable.”

Through the city’s ArtLife p.c for art method, general public artwork was integrated into the layout of the Coronary heart & Soul Park. 

“The concept of putting art into the community realm is quite critical, and the method of putting it out there is crucial to our cultural development,” said City of West Palm Beach front Administrator of General public Artwork and Tradition Sybille Welter.  “These mosaic artwork pieces generate a platform wherever histories and society satisfy.”

The City of West Palm Seashore is property to additional than 50 long term and temporary art installations, which can be accessed by the general public. Simply click below for a map of the city’s collection of public art.

ArtLife WPB is the city’s leading artwork plan that commissions and offers a range of jobs produced by artists at all job concentrations. The ArtLife WPB system grew out of the Art in Public Sites (AiPP) plan set up in 1985 and the AiPP amended ordinance of 2014. The program’s mission is to shape the character of West Palm Beach as a result of the electrical power of public artwork. Projects are funded by builders via the ‘percent for artwork funding program,’ which collects a price on big-scale enhancement tasks for the set up and funding of general public artwork.

For far more information about ArtLife WPB, you should visit http://wpb.org/artlife or contact Sybille Welter, Administrator of Public Artwork and Tradition at (561) 822.1521 (TTY 800-955-8771).