SHREVEPORT, LA (AP) — The faded pictures on the walls speak volumes.
The murals once boldly told a story and held a history and added beauty to Shreveport-Bossier City. The lack of maintenance and funding and the disappearance of the murals have muted many of those tales.
The murals, created by local and sometimes national artists, have been in the background of photos and events and everyday life. They have also become like background noise, sometimes barely noticeable after seeing them for so long. But the art still holds a purpose — to beautify and create a better community.
"It makes people have pride in their community," said Robin Jones, director of Bossier Arts Council. "If you have a beautiful mural in your neighborhood, people are more inclined to volunteer to landscape, plant flowers around it. It gives the sense of community."
However, some of the struggle is getting permission, finding the funding and protecting the pieces.
Create, re-coat, repeat
Public art director Josh Porter said Shreveport Regional Arts Council is working to create a public art ordinance. He said it would be the first time the city has had a plan for public art that will allocate funding to the maintenance of the sculptures, murals and other public art works in the city.
"We're trying to fix and replace the public art that we have before we can create new pieces," Porter said. "The public art ordinance would put money at least toward the upkeep of art on city-owned buildings, then we can do sculptures attached to the buildings or murals."
Currently, SRAC and the city are making plans to add another coating to the mega mural "Once in a Millennium Moon" on the side of the former AT&T building downtown, he said.
"The 'mega mural' is 20 years old," Porter said. "Last year I took a picture of it and sent it to the artist and she was very impressed with how well it's held up. There's no refurbishing with that one, it just needs a protective coating put back on it."
Recently the sculpture standing on the Interstate 20 overpass at Common Street, "Symbiosis," was temporarily removed and taken to the artists' studio for repairs and refinishing. But sometimes it's not so simple to have a piece refurbished.
The best scenario for being respectful of the artist and true to the original form is to have the original artist make the touch-ups, Jones said. But as years pass and take artists with them, the task of preservation becomes more difficult.
"Because it's someone's art work you can't just come in and paint on it. You can hire a professional artist to restore the murals, but you can't have a neighborhood gathering of people painting on someone's mural."
Funding and commissions
For the cities on both sides of the river, funding has relied on donations and commissions from private businesses and residents.
"I would love for a private business or individual to say, 'I want a mural. I want to put money toward it and I trust the artist,'" Porter said.
At the Bossier Arts Council, Jones commissions students to create murals in the stairwell of the building. It's a way of teaching the students art techniques and beautifying an area under renovation. Students are paired with a muralist in town.
"As far as murals outside in the community, the last one we did is on the back of the building, 'Blowing Bubbles,'" Jones said. "Our goal was, after the student art show, the winner would get a mural somewhere in town, but the funding just is not there to do it."
She said the projects could continue with the help of sponsors, which the arts council is having a hard time finding.
The murals' themes range from superheroes to space and technology. It's all from the students' imagination with the guidance of their art mentors.
When commissioning a mural, Porter said to have trust in the artist. The patron would be involved in the creative process to a certain point, but in an ideal situation it's best to give the artist creative reign.
"There are a lot of artists who want to produce murals on buildings," Porter said. "The biggest problem for us is permission; getting a building owner to say 'yes, use my wall.' But in that, a lot of people want to say what is on their wall. It's letting an artist express themselves."
Costs incorporated in the creation of a mural can include lifts, exterior paint, coating and other tools.
Preconceived notions
The word 'mural' brings up more than one image — including street art and graffiti.
It's not always easy to define.
"I don't think people understand it's art in whatever form it takes. The InsideOut Project was paste-ups, but it's still on a wall. It doesn't have to be painted. There are other ways murals can be done."
The InsideOut Project is a part of an international photography experience. Community members had their photos taken and printed instantly on large sheets of paper that were pasted onto the wall of the Ford Andress parking garage on the corner of Common and Crockett streets in downtown Shreveport.
Due to rainy weather conditions the photos came down after time, but a portion of them were reprinted and now hang across the street from the garage inside Central Artstation.
Just down the road, another unconventional community mural is displayed on Texas Avenue.
"The most satisfying mural in recent time is the temporary mural Steve Porter did for The Big Scene," Porter said. "He painted it, we installed it and the community put the colors in."
And off of Elvis Presley Avenue, across from the Municipal Auditorium, low concrete walls display street art commissioned by local artists, including John H. Lomax, Jeormie Journell, Taffie Garsee, Kedrick Williams and J. Ben Moss, as a part of SRAC's UNSCENE! event series.
The difference between murals, street art and graffiti may be in the eye of the beholder. Street art and graffiti often come with a bad rap, but are still appreciated — by some.
Over the summer, the internationally acclaimed street artist Shepard Fairey was commissioned to paint a 18-story mural on One Campus Martius for Dan Gilbert's Bedrock Real Estate Services in downtown Detroit. He faces felony charges and fines for painting and pasting non-commissioned art on other buildings around the city.
"What Shepard Fairey and Banksy does is art — it's street art, which is different from murals, which is different from graffiti," Porter said. "It is an artistic representation. They don't have permission on what all they do, but it's beautiful. And there is beautiful street art in this town."
While some believe art has no boundaries, others say it's a respect of law and personal property.
"I love street art, but it's illegal whether you're beautifying the property or not," Jones said. "It's someone else's property."
The perks of painting wallflowers
A more obvious purpose for murals is the beauty aspects of them. It's also a tourist draw.
"The AT&T building downtown Shreveport is one of the biggest murals in the country," Jones said. "We get a ton of people who come by the arts council simply because they saw the mural on the back of the building."
Jones said she has seen murals around town disappear as individuals or businesses paint over them, leaving blank walls. Without murals their absence would be felt.
"It brightens the community," Porter said. "It's an escape from the concrete jungle."
– by AP/ Reporter Tiana Kennell with The Times
