On Cleveland’s East Side, a forbidding brick wall is now a canvas.
With a paint sprayer and aerosol cans, artists are creating one of the largest murals in the state. Their work surface stretches 728 feet along Woodhill Road, where the wall conceals a Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority bus maintenance garage.
For years, that wall has been a barrier at the bottom of a hill in the Buckeye-Woodhill neighborhood. Now, it’s a brightly colored billboard showcasing the history and culture of a community that’s going through big changes.
“This is a chance to memorialize some areas that we won’t see again – or, at least, we’ll see them again in a different way,” said Ahlon Gonzalez, who grew up nearby and still lives just a few minutes away. “So I think there is a sense of urgency there.”
Gonzalez is managing the mural project for LAND Studio, a nonprofit focused on public art and public spaces. The work, funded by federal grants, is being carried out in partnership with Burten, Bell, Carr Development Inc. and a group of local stakeholders.