A Memphis artist has been selected to design and paint two crosswalks at the corner of Madison and Avalon in Midtown.
Khara Woods was recently commissioned by the Urban Art Commission and the city of Memphis to paint the new crosswalks, according to MidtownMemphis.org. That group is also supporting the project. The $14,000 project will transform the intersection close to Cash Saver Midtown, Murphy’s, and Memphis Renaissance. Specifically, the crosswalk murals will be painted on the north side of Madison and the east side of Avalon.
Woods is a multidisciplinary artist and graphic designer. Her work has recently been exhibited in galleries in Memphis, Nashville, Lafayette, Louisiana, and Augusta, Georgia. She is now developing a large-scale outdoor installation for the Brooks Museum of Art.
Since 2015, Woods has created murals and public art for the Memphis Public Library’s Cornelia Crenshaw branch, the city of Memphis’ Office of Comprehensive Planning, and Uptown Memphis.
The Madison/Avalon crosswalk project was selected by a group stakeholders including local business owners, residents, nonprofit groups, city officials, and from votes collected form the public.
The group decided they’d like ot mural to include messages of civic pride like ”Heartbeat of Memphis,” “Midtown Memphis,” or “Midtown is Memphis.” The group wanted the mural to pay homage to that part of Midtown’s food, music, and entertainment. For this, they suggested symbols to represent music notes and instruments, dinner plates, food, and restaurants. They also suggested the mural’s colors be deep lilac, inchworm, Kauai, and Sienna.
No timeline for the project has been given publicly.
Find out more here.