{"id":5755,"date":"2019-11-20T02:00:15","date_gmt":"2019-11-20T07:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/?p=5755"},"modified":"2019-11-20T11:02:05","modified_gmt":"2019-11-20T16:02:05","slug":"public-art-in-erie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2019\/11\/public-art-in-erie\/","title":{"rendered":"Public Art in Erie"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of assisting Erie (PA) Arts and Culture with their strategic planning process. I worked closely with their board and their executive director, Patrick Fisher and was impressed by their collective commitment to meaningful community engagement. My work there came in the middle of a long-term project of commissioning murals for the city. In October one was completed that impressed me so much I had to share it here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EAC brought Elio Mercado, known professionally as Evoca1<\/a>\u2013an artist known for work that addresses issues of poverty and homelessness, to the city to put a mural on Methodist Towers, an apartment building for low-income seniors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evoca1 selected a Methodist Tower resident, Rudolph “Rudy” Daniels, as the subject of the mural. Mercado said, \u201cHe just looked very uplifting and inspiring. . . . Having Rudy up there, an image of that scale, and (depicting) a minority member of this community like that, I hope that people find that inspirational.\u201d Of more than passing note, Mr. Daniels is blind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In announcing the completion of the work, Patrick Fischer said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This evening, Evoca1 completed what proved to be a very special project. It\u2019s always rewarding to watch a community respond to a new piece of public art. But this project yielded some uniquely fulfilling moments, such as this evening when Rudy said goodbye to Evoca1 and was brought to tears. As a blind man, Rudy cannot see Evoca1\u2019s work, but he was overcome with emotion due to how people have engaged with him as a result of his portrait being painted onto the side of one of the largest buildings in Downtown Erie. He gave a deep \u201cthank you\u201d to Evoca1 as he told him he loved him for how he impacted his life. As an onlooker, I was near tears myself.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Successful community engagement is rooted in seeing those outside the arts as partners, working together with them on work that is mutually beneficial. This begins with seeing<\/em> them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bravo Erie Arts and Culture!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Engage!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doug<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Powerful public art in Erie, PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[12,13,95],"class_list":{"0":"post-5755","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-examples","8":"category-principles","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-community-engagement","11":"tag-public-art","12":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/ErieMural-e1571078677106.jpeg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-1uP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5784,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2019\/12\/dei-statements\/","url_meta":{"origin":5755,"position":0},"title":"DEI 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