Franklin Blvd, Sacramento mini-murals - photo by Susan Raines
It’s a festival of art on the street but is the Plein Air art on Franklin Blvd getting any attention? Twenty-two artists recently completed their task of painting small murals on the side of Franklin Blvd. businesses. The reception held at Tangent Gallery has also passed. The artists have gone on with their usual creative endeavors elsewhere while Franklin Blvd. awaits its appreciative audience. Unfortunately the appreciative audience is likely to be low-key and small. In fact, if you are driving by any one of the twenty-two mini-murals on the street, you are likely to miss it entirely and proceed unaware that art has adorned the wall.
Each mini- mural depicts a nearby scene and some of the artists were quite clever in their design and choice of focus. The businesses all have the option of removing the murals after March 12, 2010. Even if the special anti-graffiti coating works through the next six-months, the murals could still be wiped out and lost forever without ever being viewed by any one other than observant business patrons and local foot travelers of Franklin Blvd. The fact that the murals are primarily 24 x 32 inches and barely noticeable from the street is likely to be the number one factor leading to their lack of appreciation. The second detraction factor is that the placement of some murals is on the side of buildings; they can not even be seen from Franklin Blvd. The third factor is a lack of news coverage. The fourth factor is that people just don’t seem to care. The reasons why people don’t care are long and not necessarily a reflection of the public state of mind. Some of the murals just don’t stand out as remarkable due to the fact that some of the wall canvas surfaces were overly textured and, frankly, some artists just don’t shine too brightly when applying their hand to plein-air art. Of course, that is a matter of opinion and everyone knows art is personal so perhaps the ugliest mural on the street could one day be the masterpiece to go down in history . . . if it doesn’t get painted over some months down the road.
Mini-mural by Karen Dukes located at Caballo Blanco - 5604 Franklin Blvd. - photo by Susan Raines
The idea of beautifying a strip of Franklin Blvd. that has long been dubbed the ugliest street in Sacramento, is a noble and creative idea. However, thinking bigger and making the murals unmistakably obvious would more dramatically serve the community and the sense of beauty. Even if the walls had to be reduced to ten, five or even fewer businesses and the artists worked together on a large scale wall collage, the impact would have been greatly multiplied. An example of such a success would be the Midtown Alley Project on 23rd St. between K and L Streets where the full wall mural demands immediate respect and awe.
Mini-mural by Jeff Musser located at 2901 Franklin - Bud & Sons - photo by Susan RainesDespite these challenging conditions, the mini-murals are respectable in their own settings and many of the artists are well recognized painters of the Sacramento community. If you are into getting out for a leisure drive to see a bit of Sacramento, Franklin Blvd. should be included on your route at least once. The best tactic is to take a list of locations and take your time. If you don’t want to get out of the car and look, it is unfortunately still not likely to be worth the fuel to traverse the boulevard unless you have other business to attend to in that district. For a guided map see the Franklin Blvd. Urban Plein Air Art link. On a final note, community support is important and beautifying a street is a positive endeavor however low-key the results may appear. So, if you are in the vicinity, try to get a little more exercise and make an effort to actually get out and look. Some of the pieces are actually quite intriguing and demand much more than a glance!
Photos by Susan RainesOther articles by Susan Raines include:
Turning Fifty - The Quandaries of Aging Gracefully
Midtown Benefit is a Smash with This Old Pistol and Marshal Wilkerson and Smoked Sugar
Juneteenth in
Comments
Nice honest review. Hope to go walk the area.
This article needs to be forwarded on to the significant planners. Good job SR.
I will go see the murals and see if I agree......The pictures say I just might!
nice column learn a little more about what their trying to do in sac. thank you suann
liked this article so much i had to read it again
Good lookin out for the arts!! I normally don't have a reason to get out walk this area-- but I do now!! Maybe next time they will get larger canvas areas!!
While we appreciate your coverage of the project, we were somewhat dismayed by the article’s negative tone and your use of the term, "fiasco". The project’s purpose is to encourage dialogue & exchange of ideas about the neighborhood community & urban landscape. The artworks in this project were not intended for vehicular traffic, but were created to be viewed from the sidewalk level. More research on your part might have revealed the degree to which the community around Franklin Boulevard has responded enthusiastically to these artworks. Your assessment of the worth of the project might have been better shaped by interviews with local citizens, business owners and the artists themselves. To clarify, the purpose of the project is not to “beautify Franklin Boulevard” but, “to encourage dialogue and exchange about the neighborhood, community and the urban landscape and, more importantly, about how urban design can affect a community's fate".
Dear Proj Coordinator: I understand fiasco may be a jolting term but it is a question and not a statement. If you read closely, you will find that people were encouraged to go look themselves. Many locals were not able to assist in locating several hard-to-find murals and responded with blank stares. Of course, the store owners are happy, it draws news attention to them and their businesses. If everyday people are to appreciate the sidewalk level art, they must know the murals exist. I regret that you are unhappy with the form of coverage; however, regardless of the intent there remain a great number of locals oblivious to the art as witnessed during two self-guided tours that included community interaction.
Thanks Susan for the compliment of our efforts! I haven't seen the Franklin Blvd paintings yet but know many of the artists..I will definitely go check them out after your review.
Kristina Mcclanahan
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