Today in street art: SCAD mural initiative brings the joy of color to Atlanta parks

Installing a basketball court mural requires weeks of backbreaking work, often in extreme heat. But the people who are part of Savannah College of Art and Design’s (SCAD) Paint Our Parks initiative are dedicated to the project because of the way it contributes to Atlanta’s neighborhoods.

The initiative is part of the university’s community service design studio, SCAD SERVE, which harnesses the creative power of SCAD’s students, faculty and alumni to improve the quality of life in the university’s home towns of Atlanta and Savannah.

The Paint Our Parks initiative has so far planned and created five basketball court murals in Atlanta. Alumni ambassadors lead the mural design and concept, sharing their knowledge with the SCAD community, which then shares it with the recipient community. These ambassadors mentor students by sharing their life experiences and art practice. SCAD contributes significant funds and resources to each project, not all of which are basketball courts.

Here’s a rundown of the Atlanta murals that the initiative has created so far.

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Usher-Collier Elementary School

Alexandria Hall (B.F.A., illustration, 2019), Atlanta Public Schools and Art in the Paint teamed up for Paint Our Park’s most recent project: transforming an empty and neglected space at Usher-Collier Elementary school into an inviting play area for the kids. Says Hall: “We were lucky enough to be able to see the excitement and curiosity that the students had while working on the mural. Their excitement each day as they passed us working on the court was so inspiring and touching. I tried to use shapes, lines and colors that feel youthful and exciting. The entire piece is abstract and full of bright colors and geometry. I hope the students feel creative and inspired to be themselves when they are on the court.”

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Thomasville Recreation Center

Hall did this one too, working with Mayor Andre Dickens, Councilman Jason Winston, the Atlanta Public Defenders Office, Atlanta Police Department, the Neighborhood Planning Unit and Art in the Paint. Together they transformed two basketball courts and a soccer field in Paint Our Park’s largest installation to date.

“I was inspired by the overall size of the mural space that we had to work with and hoped to be able to fill those spaces with a joyous, positive feeling for the children that used the courts,” says Hall. “The oversized playful leaping pose of the figure in the mural was the main focus, inspired by the power and infectious happiness that I felt when playing with friends on playgrounds when I was a child. We also chose colors that have a positive and energetic feeling to invigorate the large space.”

Mozley Park

Named after Dr. Hiram Mozley, the original landowner, Mozley Park was established in the 1920s and was Whites only until the 1950s. The neighborhood’s current diversity is reflected in the artist’s choice of an African kente-cloth-inspired pattern featuring natural organic forms overflowing the boundaries of the court in purple, yellow, white and blue.

The prominent circular yellow design resembles the kente symbol “ananse ntontan,” which means spider web and represents wisdom, creativity and the complexities of life. The same symbol can also visually read as a lemon slice, referring to the lemon in the Friends of Mozley Park logo.

Alumni ambassador Carla Contreras (M.F.A., painting, 2019), partnered with the Office of Cultural Affairs, the Atlanta Department of Parks and Recreation, and Art in the Paint on this mural.

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Adair Park

Alumni Ambassador Alex Waggoner (B.F.A., painting, 2012) guided more than 100 SCAD artists and community volunteers to create the mural at this park, one of two in the Adair Park neighborhood. “My proposed designs reflected themes present in all my artwork, like the urban landscape,” Waggoner says. The image represents the sun clearing away the clouds. “Once the neighborhood was presented with design options, we refined the concept to reflect the neighborhood logo colors.”

Those colors worked nicely with the design concept, Waggoner says. “I loved working with SCAD and Adair Park to create a piece that spoke to the neighborhood and reflects my work as a painter.” An episode of Harlem Globetrotters: Play it Forward was filmed at the Adair Park court, starring Globetrotter players nicknamed Torch and Hammer.

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Langford Park

Former Atlanta City Councilman Arthur Langford Jr.’s namesake park was the site of the SCAD initiative’s first mural. The university flew alumni ambassador Emily Eldridge (B.F.A., Illustration, 2004) to Atlanta from Berlin to lead an enthusiastic team of alumni, faculty and students, along with community volunteers and Langford family members, to paint this 10,000-square-foot artscape.

“I created a design that visually interprets the energy of basketball through the use of bold shapes and colors,” says Eldridge. “Influenced by coach playbooks and game diagrams, the dashed lines, zigzags and other painted shapes represent the movement of passing or dribbling, the action of shooting the ball, the position of defensive or offensive players and other court moves. I also wanted to visually depict the sound of the ball hitting the ground, the sounds of the crowds watching the game and the excitement of the players. Additionally, the bright color palette brings a shot of vibrant Paint Our Parks energy to the park.”

What’s Next

Look for two new SCAD Paint Our Parks murals around Atlanta later this summer, one of them designed by alumna Drew Borders.

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Arthur Rudick created the Atlanta Street Art Map in 2017 after retiring from a successful career as an engineer with Eastman Kodak and the Coca-Cola Company. His first experience in art was seeing an Alexander Calder mobile as a child in the Pittsburgh airport. Rudick is ArtsATL’s street art expert and a regular contributor.