Murals created at Creekside Blues & Jazz Festival to get more play at Gahanna parks

A kangaroo plays saxophone, accompanied by a squirrel on trumpet and a blue jay on drums, as a whimsical mural comes to life at the debut of the Open Air Arts Studio June 17-19 at the Creekside Blues & Jazz Festival.

The Gahanna Area Arts Council, in partnership with the Creekside Blues & Jazz Festival, the Ohio Arts Council and Visit Gahanna, hosted more than 20 artists from central Ohio, with each commissioned to paint a temporary mini mural live at the festival, according to Christian Peck, board president of the Gahanna Area Arts Council.

The murals are to be displayed at various Gahanna parks during the coming year.

Dan Pearlman, the city of Gahanna's public-information officer, said the locations to place the murals hadn't been set in stone as of June 21.

Rose Hawk, GAAC lead organizer for the Creekside Blues & Jazz Festival, said many of the artists had never been to Gahanna and didn't know what to expect.

“But more than a few said this was one of the best festivals they've ever participated in,” she said. "Most of the artists hung around all weekend, even after their mural was finished, just to be around the other artists, engage with viewers and take in the rest of the festival. It was electric."

Artist Rob Mounier's mural read, “Stay Weird,” featuring a smiling boom box with musical notes and lightning bolts surrounding it.

“I take a lot of phrases and statements, and I infuse my cartoon style in it and a lot of my personality, as well, giving it a little bit of an ’80s and ’90s kind of vibe, just super like fun, you know, good feelings to have a vibe,” he said. “I’m from New York originally. I’ve been in Columbus the last two years. The art community has been amazing. This has been a really cool opportunity. There are so many other talented artists here. It’s cool to see people coming out and support creativity.”

Columbus artist Joseph Dulin-Didonato said he has made art his full-time career since 2019.

“I was working in a fraud department,” he said. “It was so boring. I really just wanted to do something I love. I was tired of the regular stuff, going into an office, not that the people who worked there weren’t cool. I felt like my soul was getting sucked out of me.”

Dulin-Didonato said he was inspired by the comic book artist Moebius.

“The style is, I guess, a lot of people call it cyber punk,” he said. “It’s futuristic, retro at the same time. I really love it. This, (mural) specifically, I just kind of had this idea to do something inspired by his art for a while. When this opportunity came up, I was sketching some stuff out and put it in Adobe Illustrator and I made it. I actually used my daughter as the character.”

Dulin-Didonato said he spent 20 to 30 hours on the piece.

Grandview Heights resident Miranda Gray said her mini mural was a first, as she normally works in chalk art and watercolors.

“I’ll be in the Westerville Music & Arts Festival (July 9 and 10),” she said. “I like to do brightly colored animals and flowers, things like that. I was thinking about a dragonfly. They’re going to be at local parks, so it’s something that will be in a park.”

Anna VanWalsen said she decided to include everything she loves about spring in Ohio on her mural, featuring honeysuckle blossoms, a duckling and a resident finch that started showing up once she put out her bird feeder.

“I threw in some chamomile blossoms in the background,” she said.

VanWalsen said it’s always nice when you can talk to people as they see your work.

“It’s great to see what they think and what they see in it,” she said. “It’s nice to show people the process. It’s not super complicated to make it feel more doable for somebody, especially something like this where you have a lot of young folks coming through.”

Amanda Bid said she’s a member of the Art Love Collective Makers Market, 166 Granville St., that included several artists working on one mural at the festival.

The mural featured animals playing different instruments.

"I think Gahanna is really trying to make it more of an art scene,” Bid said. “I’d like to see Gahanna become the next art district.”

Peck said the arts council couldn't have been happier with the response, especially for a first-year program.

“Everyone we talked to seemed to really appreciate the value these visual artists brought to the festival,” he said. "We would love to build on the success of this year. But we'll need help to make it happen."

Lori Kappes, executive director of Visit Gahanna, said she was thrilled that the festival could showcase visual artists through the new partnership with the Gahanna Area Arts Council.

mkuhlman@thisweeknews.com

@ThisWeekMarla

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Murals created at Gahanna's Creekside Blues & Jazz Festival to get more play at parks